Botany 12 and Sonoma Botany
October 15, 2004 - February 13, 2005
Curated by Natasha Boas
Sonoma County is known for its rich cultural history and natural resources, nationally recognized artists, varied agriculture, land preservation, and its commitment to biodiversity.
In two new exhibitions, BOTANY 12 & SONOMABOTANY the Museum brings together art, science and culture, showcasing the work of 12 contemporary artists from Sonoma County and the Bay Area and,working with SSU, SRJC, and UC Davis, the stories of 12 regionally significant plants, featuring herbarium specimens from Sonoma State University and UC Davis, as well as photographs and artifacts.
BOTANY 12 is a vibrant and colorful mixed-media exhibition featuring the plant-inspired works of twelve contemporary artists, assembling work that ranges from watercolors to video, from plein-air painting to installation and from cabinet of curios to natural ready-mades. The work is in turn fantastical, obsessive, abstract and narrative, engaging with, and commenting on, the botanical tradition of the 19th century.
The illustrative tradition of botanica inhabits an arbitrary and capricious area in the natural sciences. At the intersection of art and science, this tradition has as much of a connection with myth and fictional notions of plant life as with careful scientific observation and analysis. Within these broad boundaries is a rich and unpredictable aesthetic space for artistic process, revealing the intimate association between the natural world and the human one in all of its complexities.
The Artists
Rob Craigie; Pamela Glasscock; Amanda Haas; Tony King; William O’Keeffe; Philip Ross; Stephanie Syjuco; Rachel Urkowitz & Lisa Oppenheim; Kathryn Van Dyke; Victoria Wagner; Bill Wheeler; and Adam Wolpert.
SONOMA BOTANY is a natural science exhibition exploring the themes of preservation and cultivation in Sonoma County history and culture through 12 plants whose regional impact has been profound, curious or particularly enlightening. Woven into the story of these plants are the lives of Milo Baker, Sonoma County’s most influential botanist whose work was indispensable in preserving knowledge of the vast sweep of plant life that populates this region. Additionally featured is Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa’s famed horticulturalist, whose genius exemplifies human efforts at manipulating plants. Sonoma Botany highlights the complex intersections of the ‘natural’ world of plants and that of human society. Collaborating with Sonoma State University, the exhibit connects directly to the work of Milo Baker, a biology teacher at Santa Rosa Junior College whose monumental life’s work on local plants was transferred to SSU and is known as the ‘North Coast Herbarium.’
An illustrated catalog accompanies the exhibition.
BOTANY 12 & SONOMA BOTANY is generously sponsored by American AgCredit, Ron Casentini, The North Bay Bohemian, The Gardener, Planet Horticulture, Sonoma County Agricultural & Open Space District, and Hotel La Rose.
