20 January – 16 March 2024
Planting Ideas leads visitors on a journey through the stages in creating an Herbarium, introducing contemporary art inspired by science and botany. The exhibition looks at historic practices in preserving and presenting plant species and shows how these techniques inspire artists today.
It explores plant collecting, pressing and drying, mounting and arranging, preservation, recording, illustration and economic botany. Each of these themes is illustrated by artefacts on loan and from St Barbe’s collection. They are embellished by contemporary artworks including a basket by Catherine Beaumont, cyanotypes by Angela Chalmers, road dust prints by Edward Chell, embroidery by Amanda Cobbett, Lynn Comley’s felt and embroidered textiles, Caroline Dear’s moss construction, Joe Horner’s photography, Stef Mitchell’s monotypes, Sarah Morrish’s botanical illustrations, Sarah Paramor’s moss bag and Helen Thomas’s paintings.
The exhibition not only wishes to entertain and delight but also to educate about botany in the New Forest by featuring the work of locally based botanical artists exploring plants found locally and likely to be affected by climate change. Other highlights include books by Anna Atkins and Henry Smith from the Linnean Society collection, Hampshire-based herbarium sheets from Hampshire Cultural Trust and Sven Berlin’s New Forest painting Gypsies Sorting Flowers on loan from a private collection.
At the heart of Planting Ideas is a celebration of plants and nature, highlighting the beauty of flora found in the New Forest and encouraging all generations to appreciate the magical world of plants. The exhibition is curated by Sherry Doyal, a maker, artist and teacher who has also worked as a conservator with both natural science and history collections.
