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.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Artful Summer in Denver


More than 30 entries were accepted into “Lost in the Woods.” Congratulations to the Artists. Come see the show.


Open Studio with Kristi Czajkowski on Wednesday, June 13 at the Denver Zoo (meet outside entrance), 10 am – 2 pm. 


Member Meeting coming up on Sunday, June 24.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Next up: Mother’s Day. Flowers ready?

Martha Narey 2012: Treespotting - Quercus gambelii

Lost in the Woods May 15, 2018, entry deadline looms at OnlineJuriedShows. If you need guidance with the good wood, Irma Sturgell has help for you: ask for the Champion Trees files. The show opens at Valkarie Gallery in Lakewood, and installation is Monday, June 18; Opening Reception on Saturday, June 23. First Friday event on July 7! So get ‘em entered, folks!





Cannabis: A Visual Perspective has two weeks to run at the CU Museum of natural History. Read this timely Westword interview with our lovely Susan Fisher. She’s talkin’ about you…





Gathering of the Guilds happened Sunday, April 29, at the Boettcher Mansion on Lookout Mountain, and the weather was delightful. Your Editor took the opportunity to Walk on Dirt, having been town-bound for a while. It was fun, and Golden Moon Distillery has an interesting Whiskey Tea Punch well worth sampling.


Tagawa Gardens RMSBA Art Sale is on July 14 (vive la France). Get your stuff ready for this opportunity in conjunction with the Lavender Festival. Our space last year, right in front of the High Plains Iris Show & Sale, did enhance our sales with some of their traffic.


Taxonomy and Herbarium Website. Those of you who don’t read Science may be interested to visit Missouri Botanic Gardens’ website http://tropicos.org/Project/VPA. From the GNSI List-serve: “The Vascular Plants of the Americas (VPA) website contains the first integrated assessment of all known native species of vascular plants in the New World. It includes 124,993 species in 6,227 genera, and 355 families. The species number corresponds to 33% of the 383,671 vascular plant species known globally.”

The site includes interesting taxonomic updates… for example… florist’s chrysanthemum is no longer Dendrathema, but is back to Chrysanthemum morifolium. [The more things change… Ed.] Searching say, Images, takes a moment, but take a breath or a sip, and let the iMagic happen. Tools include a Glossary search and an Ethnobotany search – and A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin, for which you’ve all been waiting with bated breath.

You can also link to the NY Botanic Garden Virtual Herbarium and other sites (note colored icons next to the Genus and Species after you search). It is an ongoing project; the link for the .pdf of the original Science article is in the tiny print at the bottom of the home page.