Global Flora: Botanical Imagery and Exploration, an exhibition linking the history of botanical imagery with the adventure of exploration and effects of globalization on our our contemporary world opened on October 19. On view through January 15, 2012 in the Morelle Lasky Levine ’56 Works on Paper Gallery at Wellesley College, the exhibition is free and open to the public. To complement the exhibition, the Davis will present an Interdisciplinary Gallery Walk (November 9). According to Elaine Mehalakes, Kemper Curator of Academic Programs and curator of Global Flora, the 28 works in this exhibit — from engravings that date back to the 1500’s to contemporary still lifes — are not only exquisitely detailed depictions of flora and fauna, but also tell a story about the complex relationships that have evolved alongside botanical art. Drawn from the Davis collections and Wellesley College Library’s Special Collections, the prints and illustrated books on view also demonstrate the changes from the 16th century to the present in techniques used to depict botanical imagery—from woodcuts, engravings, and mezzotints to lithographs, cyanotypes, and inkjet prints; from the hand-colored to the color printed; and from the compact to the lavishly outsized. They display variations in format and purpose, though with equal attention given to accuracy, from floral still lifes imbued with symbolic meaning to precise depictions of individual plants with their component parts labeled for scientific classification.  For hours and more information, visit https://www.davismuseum.wellesley.edu/news/4123.  Below is Isabella Kirkland’s “Trade.”