Vicki Lee Johnston with the watercolour selected for a global botanical art exhibition.
Camera IconVicki Lee Johnston with the watercolour selected for a global botanical art exhibition. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Hills artist selected for Worldwide Day of Botanical Art exhibition in Canberra

Lynn GriersonHills Avon Valley Gazette

JUDGES have selected work by a Hills artist for a global exhibition of native plants.

Worldwide Day of Botanical Art on May 18 will run in 25 countries to celebrate the diversity of plant life indigenous to each country.

Vicki Lee Johnston submitted her desert quandong artwork, Santalum acuminatum – Quandong, to a national panel of judges, who selected the piece for the Flora of Australia display at the Ainslie Arts Centre in Canberra from May 18-27.

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The American Society of Botanical Artists initiated the global showcase to unite botanical art organisations and cultural institutions around the world.

By linking people with plant life through botanical art, the organisation hopes to put native flora in the frame.

Johnston, who works in watercolour and graphite, was raised on a farm near the Wheatbelt town of Buntine, where her curiosity for nature flourished amid the wildflowers of the region.

She described herself as a country girl at heart and said her journey into art didn’t begin until her media career slowed and her children were grown.

Her interest in botanical art blossomed through distance studies with the UK Society of Botanical Art.

She graduated with distinction and her work was hung in two London exhibitions.

The emerging artist also participated in the group exhibition Framing Nature at the Zig Zag Gallery, Kalamunda where she also won the two-dimensional works category of the Kalamunda Lions Club Art Awards.

Johnston said ‘science meets art’ in botanical illustration where accuracy is key.

“I’m proud to be involved in the international initiative, which can only bring awareness to our indigenous flora through art,” she said.

For more about her artwork, visit https://vickileejohnston.blogspot.com.au.

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