Boston Flora

Tag: Rhode Island School of Design

  • Saturday, April 27, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – Chinese Brush Painting: Violets

    The Four Seasons have been used in Chinese painting since the Song dynasty (960-1279). Through demonstration and hands-on practice, you will explore and develop an understanding of the different brush stokes to create an expressive orchid painting. This class is great for beginners as well as experienced artists. If you want to find out how exciting, relaxing, and fun it is to paint and be inspired by beautiful African Violets, don’t miss this fun New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill class on April 27 from 9:30 – 11:30. 

    Most of the material is included with registration.

    Required Materials (Not included with registration):

    1. Two containers (one for clean water and the other for cleaning brushes, minimum size: 2 cups)
    2. Two flat white 6-8 inches plate (small dinner plate is ok)

    Instructor: Sau-Mei Leung

    Sau-Mei Leung is a graduate with the Natural Science Illustration Certificate from Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education. She also has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Connecticut. Her interest in art was sparked by studying Chinese calligraphy in primary school in Hong Kong. Mei has exhibited in many shows including Davis Art Gallery, Tower Hill Botanical Garden, and Art Providence. One of her watercolor paintings was also featured in Scenes and Seasons of a Small New England Village published by Leonard A. Haug. Mei is passionate about teaching and sharing her love of art, nature, and science.

    $55 Member Adult; $70 Adult (includes admission to the Garden) Register HERE

  • Sunday, May 14, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Beginner Botanical Watercolors and Mimosas for Mother’s Day

    Spend Mother’s Day together at Berkshire Botanical Garden learning a new skill. Sip mimosas and paint flowers with Mom. What could be better? This beginners class is designed for mothers/mother figures and their adult children. Participants will be introduced to sketching and painting botanicals with watercolors. Spend the morning exploring art exercises to loosen up, have fun and build new skills. After lunch, begin creating a work of art to bring home! No previous experience is necessary. All materials will be provided.  $95 for BBG members, $110 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/beginner-botanical-watercolors-and-mimosas-mother%E2%80%99s-day-0

    Cheryl Moore is an artist and educator who specializes in watercolor and oil pastel. She has more than 40 years of teaching experience working with children and adults, holds a B.A. from Rhode Island School of Design and has trained in botanical art with Janet Walsh, Charles Reid and Jack Flynn.

  • Thursday, September 29 & Friday, September 30, 10:00 am – 3:30 pm – The Garden in Pastel

    Learn how to capture the splendor of the Garden with the deep pigments that can only be found with pastels. This Berkshire Botanical Garden two part class is appropriate for beginners to intermediate students. A materials list will be provided upon registration. Students will work en plein air, learning the fundamentals of this medium before using it to render the late summer garden in all its glory. The class takes place September 29 and 30 from 10 – 3:30. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/garden-pastel-0

    Cheryl Moore is an artist and educator who specializes in watercolor and oil pastel. With more than 40 years of teaching experience working with children and adults, she holds a BA from Rhode Island School of Design and has trained in botanical art with Janet Walsh, Charles Reid and Jack Flynn.

  • Sunday, September 11, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Chinese Brush Painting: Plum Blossoms

    This New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill course on September 11 introduces you to “the four treasures” of Chinese brush painting—ink stone, ink sticks, brush, and paper—allows you to explore a variety of techniques. Through demonstration and hands-on practice, you will learn the Chinese brush methods of painting Plum Blossoms as well as compositional development.  Because the plum is the first flower to bloom while the winter air still bites, it represents the vitality and vigor of nature. And in classical Chinese writing, the character for plum blossom expresses the virtues of courage and strength. Take this two hour class to relax, create, and meditate with Chinese brush painting inspired by the beautiful garden at Tower Hill. Material required, not included with registration, are two containers (one for clean water and the other for cleaning brushes, minimum size 2 cups) and two flat white 6 – 8 inch plates (small dinner plate will be ok.)

    Sau-Mei Leung is a graduate with the Natural Science Illustration Certificate from Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education. She also has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Connecticut. Her interest in art was sparked by studying Chinese calligraphy in primary school in Hong Kong. Mei has exhibited in many shows including Davis Art Gallery, Tower Hill Botanical Garden, and Art Providence. One of her watercolor paintings was also featured in Scenes and Seasons of a Small New England Village published by Leonard A. Haug. Mei is passionate about teaching and sharing her love of art, nature, and science. $55 NEBG members, $70 nonmembers. Register at www.nebg.org.

  • Through April 30, 2023 – Rose B. Simpson: Counterculture

    Rose B. Simpson’s Counterculture is installed along the horizon line of a Field Farm meadow that is visible from Sloan Road in Williamstown. The sculptural artwork consists of twelve cast-concrete figures that stand approximately ten feet tall. The figures are adorned with ceramic and found objects and include steel-posts rooted into the ground with cement.

    Simpson’s most ambitious work to date, Counterculture honors generations of marginalized people and cultures whose voices have been too often silenced by colonization. The figures look across a post-apocalyptic vista, the vast homelands from which native peoples were forcibly removed. The artist imagines the figures as watchful presences, reminders that history and the natural world perpetually observe humanity. With hollow eyes that catch the morning sunlight, the feminine-bodied forms also suggest that Mother Earth shows us the way—that respect for the land and its original inhabitants are the honorable way forward.

    The Trustees is sponsoring this open air, free exhibit, and there are many guided tour opportunities that may be accessed at https://thetrustees.org/exhibit/counterculture/

    Rose B. Simpson’s life work is a seeking out of tools with the potential to heal the damages of being human in our postmodern and postcolonial era. These tools manifest as artworks that function in psychological, emotional, social, cultural, spiritual, intellectual, and physical realms. The artist intends for these tools-cum-artworks to help build cures. In this sense, Simpson strives to imbue her artworks with poetic yet hard-working utilitarian concepts.

    Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983, Santa Clara Pueblo) is a mixed-media artist from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. Her life’s work is a seeking out of tools with the potential to heal the damages of being human in our postmodern and postcolonial era. These tools manifest as artworks that function in psychological, emotional, social, cultural, spiritual, intellectual, and physical realms. She explores a range of creative disciplines to make the artworks, including ceramics, sculpture, metals, fashion, performance, music, installation, writing, and custom-car work. She holds an MFA in Ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts, a BFA from the University of New Mexico, and a certificate in Automotive Science from Northern New Mexico College. Her work is collected by museums across the continent and exhibited internationally. She lives and works from her home at Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico.

    Rose B. Simpson’s Counterculture is organized by Jamilee Lacy, guest curator of The Trustees of Reservations’ 2022 Art & Landscape program and is on view through Spring 2023 at  Field Farm at 554 Sloan Road, Williamstown, MA 01267.

  • Friday, September 17, 12:30 pm – Drawing Basics: Flowers & Leaves in Perspective

    Drawing basics classes at Tower Hill Botanic Garden are focused on building botanical illustration skills for all levels of learners. In this September 17 workshop with Carol Schwartz, using only pencil, learn about drawing flowers and leaves from a variety of angles, such as side view, pointing at or away from you, and how to draw the 3-dimension curvature of shape in 2-dimensions.

    Required Materials (Not Provided with Registration):

    1. 3H, B, 4B, and Prismacolor Ebony pencils
    2. Kneaded eraser
    3. Drawing paper pad, 9″ x 12″

    Carol graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute, attending her senior year at Rhode Island School of Design. She earned her MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford, Connecticut in 2014. Her education equipped her to be diverse and adaptable, with work appearing in 60 picture books and countless magazines, newspapers and advertisements.

    $30 Member Adult; $40 Adult (Registration includes admission to the Garden). Register at www.towerhillbg.org

  • Wednesday, September 1 – Saturday, September 4, 10:30 am – 2:45 pm – The Garden in Pastel

    Learn how to capture the splendor of Garden with the deep pigments that can only be found with pastels. This four session Berkshire Botanical Garden class, September 1 – 4 from 10:30 – 2:45 each day, is appropriate for beginners to intermediate students. A materials list will be provided upon registration. Students will work in-plein-air, learning the fundamentals of this medium before using it to rendering the late summer garden in all its glory. Instructor Cheryl Moore is an artist and educator who specializes in watercolor and oil pastel. She has more than 40 years of teaching experience working with children and adults. Cheryl holds a B.A. from Rhode Island School of Design and has trained in botanical art with Janet Walsh, Charles Reid, and Jack Flynn.

    $250 for BBG members, $300 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/garden-pastel

  • Saturday, April 10, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – Sketching Spring First Flowers, Online

    Snowdrops, crocus, pansies, chionodoxa (Luciles Glory of the Snow); sketching these beautiful flowers are an introduction to more spring blooms to come. Enjoy drawing one or more flower shapes and learning inking techniques that will visually describe their textures and values. This virtual workshop will begin with an inking technique demo, then try your skills drawing spring’s first flowers with the instructor. Carol Schwartz.

    Materials (Supply your own–not included with registration)
    1. Mixed media paper pad, 9? x 12?, such as Canson XL or Strathmore
    2. Higgins Black Magic waterproof ink and Speedball pen set, either Cartooning Pen and Nib Project Set or Number 20 General Purpose Set or a #01 or 02 Micron pen
    3. No. 2 pencil and an eraser

    Carol Schwartz graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute, attending her senior year at Rhode Island School of Design. She earned her MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford, Connecticut in 2014. Her education equipped her to be diverse and adaptable, with work appearing in 60 picture books and countless magazines, newspapers and advertisements.

    The Tower Hill Botanic Garden course on April 10 at 9:30 am is $30 for Tower Hill members, $40 for nonmembers. This program will be held virtually. Once you register HERE you will receive a Zoom link in the confirmation. This webinar will only be available LIVE.

  • Saturday, October 10, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – The Luminosity of Leaves

    The beauty of leaves is all around us in the fall. Learn and practice drawing this fantastic foliage and using colored pencils to add their stunning fall colors. A few acorns or seed pods may find their way into your drawings, too! This October 10 Tower Hill Botanic Garden program will be held from 1 – 3 under our open sided outdoor canopy tent. Group size will not exceed current state restrictions (10).

    Carol Schwartz graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute, attending her senior year at Rhode Island School of Design. She earned her MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford, Connecticut in 2014. Her education equipped her to be diverse and adaptable, with work appearing in 60 picture books and countless magazines, newspapers and advertisements. 

  • Sunday, September 20, 10:30 am – Magnificent Mushrooms Botanical Illustration

    Sunday, September 20, 10:30 am – Magnificent Mushrooms Botanical Illustration

    Explore the multitude of mushrooms popping up in the woods at Tower Hill on September 20 at 10:30 am. This program will be held under our open sided outdoor canopy tent. Group size will not exceed current state restrictions. Sketch as you see them, then snap a photo with your phone and add color with colored pencils while sitting at a table under the activities tent. Learn about showing texture and shading.

    Instructor Carol Schwartz graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute, attending her senior year at Rhode Island School of Design. She earned her MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford, Connecticut in 2014. Her education equipped her to be diverse and adaptable, with work appearing in 60 picture books and countless magazines, newspapers and advertisements.

    $30 for Tower Hill members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—magnificent-mushrooms