External Resources and Professional Skills: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Researching extensively into raw materials, Chalkie and I collaborated by making paper out of plant pulp, a vat of water and a mesh screen. Embedding seeds into the paper, we made seed paper which we intend to incorporate into an interactive zine discussing all aspects flora and female. The process of making and planting the seed paper reflects ideas of the woman as nurturer, herbs and botany being grown in medicinal gardens dating back to the Tudor times and stereotypically being looked after/run by women. The zine would have five pages where you could tear their edges and plant the seed paper. Each page would be dedicated to discussing a specific flower, its symbolic value and its connection to femininity, gender roles, poetry and female goddesses. For example, the Iris flower symbolises fertility whilst the white Lily reflects Lady Lilith, a fallen Goddess of pandora and a demonic figure who refused to subordinate herself to Adam.
Interested in the formalisation of flora in botanical textiles, floriography, its various symbolism and ways in which botanical imagery and plant biodiversity is represented in art, visiting the Herbarium Archives would help further develop and refine my artistic practice and inquiry. Being able to study physical archival sheets of botanical material at the herbarium, I will be able to more thoroughly analyse the structure and visual characteristics of different specimens. This would help me highlight their sensual, synthetic and otherworldly qualities which, when explored in detail, could then be shared with the public at Kew Gardens through an exhibit connecting botanical art with the natural world.
Interactive Zine Collaboration
Collaboration: Set up of materials
Documenting the paper making, seed embedded process
Monoprint and screenprint collaboration, Emily - delphinium, Chalkie - Lilith's Flower
Selling this interactive zine at Kew Gardens gift shop, or a packet of seed paper with a flower mono-printed onto it, would expose the general public to flora’s various symbolism and the cyclical connections flowers, plants and herbs have to femininity, floriography, biblical and Dutch economic history (Tulip Mania) and the environment.
Presentation, methods, context: Herbarium Monoprint Series
Emily Wenman, 'Herbarium Monoprint Series', Magenta and Prussian Ink Mix on Newsprint, (18xA4), (12/04.2021)
I would also like to display my recently created 'Botanical Monoprints Series' in magenta and indigo ink (18xA4) at Kew Gardens Herbarium as this series successfully connects both art and site/environment. The gridded layout, and ordered presentation of these prints is purposeful and articulated; alternating from negative print to positive print. This mirrors the Herbarium's thorough and systematically arranged dried plant storage method. Producing and displaying numerous prints as a collective as opposed to one also reflects the variety, variability and biodiversity of botanical specimens both current and extinct. When presented collectively, this series reflects the formalisation of flora in botanical textiles, prints, tapestries and furnishings. Therefore, printing this ordered mono-print series on tea towels, posters, post cards, bed sheets, t-shirts and other forms of textiles/sellable items at Kew’s Gift shop could be plausible. Selling botanical art through the formalisation of flora in textiles would create a symbiotic relationship whereby both Kew Gardens and the artist would benefit both economically and promotionally.
Individual monoprints as part of 'Herbarium Botanical Monoprint Series'
Having seen Kew’s Exhibit on the sustainable newfound technology ‘Pure Structured Colour Pigment’ and its uses in art, I have become more interested in environmentally friendly art materials and the natural origins of paint pigment. Utilising natural plant pigments and flecks of structured colour to create artwork for example, would help to define a stronger ‘environmentally green’ connection between the natural world and art made from natural materials. Exhibiting or promoting botanical art through customised gift shop items that are ethically sourced and sustainable, would therefore tie into Kew’s ethos of a thriving botanical environment whilst also promoting environmentally friendly art to the wider public.
Sight Specific Work: Collaborating with Kew Gardens
External Resources and Professional Skills: Email thread
Emailing to book an accommodated research visit at Kew Gardens Herbarium/ specifying plant specimens/ genera in order to access Kew's archives:
