Mission Statement

The Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists is an open and diverse group of artists, collectors and admirers who share a love for the practice and perpetuation of botanical art and illustration with a fond focus on plants in the Rocky Mountain Region.
We encourage and participate in educational outreach, juried and non-juried exhibits, lectures, workshops and regular chapter meetings. The RMSBA is proud to be the very first chapter affiliation of the international organization, the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Rocky Mountain High! Exhibit Plant List

NOTE: This is a partial list (171 species of 574) of alpine plants, mostly designated globally rare (G1, G2, G3). Each page here is a .png image you may copy to your device for greater legibility. Artists may depict G4 or G5 plants from the complete list as well as this one.






















Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Punxatawney Phil is supposed to make the news on Thursday

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Wild, Wild West. Artists reception is scheduled for February 22, at 1 pm, at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail. Please try to attend, as this venue is very hospitable and quite important to future activities. We look forward to seeing you there!

[Missing material – check back later]

 

Jan 1 – Happy New Year

Bicentenary & Centenary Years. In 1823, President Monroe, noting all the newly independent former Spanish colonies, declared that thenceforth the United States of America would reject any attempt to reimpose European hegemony in the Americas. Well, except for Cuba, and Puerto Rico… In 1923, President Harding was evidently felled into physical collapse at the news of the Teapot Dome Scandal, and its been downhill for fossil fuels ever since. Wonder what will happen this year?

 

Labels: Member shows, membership renewals, Call for Entries

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Winter Holiday Whirlwind Approaching

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“Wild, Wild, West” is on display at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail. Boulder’s CU Museum of Natural History will host the show from mid-April to late June 2023, when Blue Sage Gallery in Paonia takes over display responsibilities; a reception is set for June 30. In July, the show moves to the Lakewood Community Arts Center on West Colfax.


Member meeting minutes from October 16 can be viewed here.


Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field” is the ASBA traveling exhibit now showing at DBG. Also on view are “Seeing Red: Botanical Art and Illustration” and “Sammy Seung-min Lee: Taking Root.” These shows are definitely worth a visit, and bring us some of the finest botanical art in concept and technique that you will find. Go see and observe.


Member Gallery entries at ASBA and once-linked to this Blog have been restructured on the new ASBA website. You must resubmit any Gallery entries and they will be updated here as well.


Monday, October 31, 2022

Put Everything to Bed – It’s Already Late

 




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The Holiday at Hand. My understanding is that 10/31 is Hallowe’en, or All Hallows Eve, both in the northern and the southern hemispheres, and coincides with the Wiccan observance of Samhain (northern autumn) and Beltane (southern spring). All Hallows’ Day or All Saints Day is 11/1. All Souls Day or Dia de los muertos, is 11/2. Whether you are feeding tooth decay and fat shaming at your front door with chocolate bars, praying to the Saints in heaven, or pulling down your own ancestor, have a lovely week.


“Wild, Wild, West” has opened at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail. The hanging involved 32 accepted works, most from Colorado but several from other states and regions. The Jurors were Margaret Saylor (ASBA –NY) and Deb Shaw (ASBA – CA). Boulder’s CU Museum of Natural History will host the show from mid-April to late June 2023, when Blue Sage Gallery in Paonia takes over display responsibilities in June; reception set for June 30. 


Member meeting in person at Denver Botanic Gardens on October 16. Artists submitted their pieces and described for the group their plants and their significance, and how they presented them. We need volunteers for Membership Chair, Exhibits Co-Chairs, and Programs Chair. Give a thought towards helping out for a couple years.

Member shows. Mary Crabtree informs us that she had a piece accepted into the ASBA 25th International Exhibition at Wave Hill, NY. The title is “Hot Cakes", the species/variety is ‘Matthiola incana’ Hot Cakes, and the execution is in Watercolor on vellum.


Let us know when you are on exhibit somewhere and when and we’ll post it right here for all to see.

Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field” is the ASBA traveling exhibit now showing at DBG. Also on view are “Seeing Red: Botanical Art and Illustration” and “Sammy Seung-min Lee: Taking Root.” These shows are definitely worth your time for a visit, and bring us some of the finest botanical art in concept and technique that you are going to find. Go see and observe.

Friday, September 30, 2022

Summer heat lingers as the asters bloom and leaf-peepers appear


 


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“Wild, Wild, West” has filled the Call for Entries at Online Juried Shows and we await the results from the jurors. This exhibit opens in late October 2022 at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, and will move to Blue Sage Gallery in Paonia in June 2023. 

Member meeting in person at Denver Botanic Gardens on October 16, 1 - 3 pm. This meeting also collects the artists’ submissions for Wild, Wild, West. Members can drop off their pieces at the end of the meeting. We will gather in Classroom 1 of the F-N Education Center. Please feel free to bring anything you may be working on to the meeting. We do so like to see one another’s work.


Member shows. Susan Rubin, Phillip Potter, and Susan DiMarchi abstract through a botanical lens, featuring drawings in colored pencil and mixed media.

Spark Gallery, 900 Santa Fe Bl, Denver, October 27 – November 20

Opening Receptions: Friday, October 28, 5-9 pm

  Saturday, October 29, noon-5pm

 Rubin’s ‘Perspective’ considers the pandemic’s effects on the way we see things, offering descriptive juxtaposition of size and perspective to describe our shifting viewpoint.  


‘Community’, colored pencil and pastel, 24X24”, © 2022 Susan Rubin 






Potter’s ‘Ineffable’ suggests life experiences are shaded by mundane and corporeal actuality, while reality is our perception and how we process the experience.


'Transitory Formation of Mental Objects’, colored pencil and gouache, 16 X16”, © 2022 Phillip Potter

 

DiMarchi’s ‘Shelf Life’, reminds us that everything has an expiration date. Nothing lasts forever, except the plastic milk jug.


“Incoming Beetle, 16X16”, Colored Pencil, © 2022 Susan DiMarchi




Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field” is the ASBA traveling exhibit coming this month to DBG. October 7 Opening is “sold out.” Hope some of you signed up on-line before the limit was reached. Also opening are “Seeing Red: Botanical Art and Illustration” and “Sammy Seung-min Lee: Taking Root.”