From Plant Press, Vol. 27, No. 4, October 2024.
On July 16, 2024, Alice Tangerini traveled to Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF) in Upperville, Viriginia to teach a class on Botanical Illustration and present a lecture entitled, “Botanical Illustration at the Museum.”
Tangerini was asked by Danielle Eady, OSGF Director of Art and Residential Programs, to lead a class demonstration on botanical illustration in pen and ink techniques to students from the Rare Book School of the University of Virginia. Tangerini’s class this year was modeled after her previous year’s class for the Rare Book School, and it was also part of the curriculum titled, Six Hundred Years of Botanical Illustration, led by Roger Gaskell, UVA Faculty member, and Peter Crane, OSGF President.
Tangerini’s lecture and techniques focused on the last 50 years of botanical illustration. She concentrated on the techniques used in pen and ink illustration but also showed examples of digital artwork and explained the transition from the traditional to digital techniques over the last 24 years.
Gardeners at OSGF provided living material including varieties of rudbeckias and made available prints of the flower heads to expedite the drawing process. Using the tracing acetate and drafting film provided, the class completed their finished pieces in pen and ink of the Rudbeckia heads and leaves. The class ended with Peter Crane giving an early evening tour of the greenhouses and conservation gardens followed by dinner at the former “schoolhouse”.
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