Botanical Artists Show Us What We Stand to Lose

Ascending to the third floor of NYC’s Society of Illustrators this fall is like entering a secret garden. The room is aglow with daylight and rare flora, not in situ, but in the 50 framed winners of its collaboration with the American Society of Botanical Artists’ 29th Annual International Exhibition. The works radiate with majesty, and the intricate sumptuousness is agonizing. Here, the threat of climate change looms. 

With strong sun rays streaming in, the plant-potted upper patio of the Society of Illustrators is a jewel box of windowed light, a parade of watercolors on vellum or watercolor paper bask in the sunlight. Here is awe for Mother Earth and her plants — and these botanical artists — and for the meticulous, enchanting detail and outcry that cherish every bud, stem, leaf, petal, bark, seed, blade, stamen, and root.

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