botanical artwork

New Artwork: Incursion

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As was the case with my last new artwork, I began this painting while in residency at BROTA and the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden but didn’t finish it until now! It’s another painting of the water hyacinth - an attractive plant that due to human spread is now an invasive menace.

My first painting of this plant, Adrift, is intentionally more flat and graphic. It focuses on shape, color, and contour. In this painting, I wanted to add more realism through volume, depth, detail, and light via water reflection. The substrate is another beautiful handmade paper by Ato Menegazzo Papeles in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This is Incursion, acrylic on artisanal handmade paper, 19.5x15.5”, 2023.

Shelby Prindaville's second painting of a water hyacinth.

New Artwork: Adrift

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Every artist has a few pieces they’ve started but not yet finished… and then time passes. Some of them kick around for months or years before they get picked back up again - if they ever do!

This painting is a piece I began during my 2019 Argentinian artist residency at BROTA and the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden. I got it quite close to being finished at the time, but there were a few touches left to add… and upon my return to the US, I shifted focus to moving houses and beginning the next school year, then COVID hit… and I just never returned to it until recently!

This is a painting of a water hyacinth, which is simultaneously a beautiful tropical aquatic plant native to South America and also a globally invasive scourge. In places where it can withstand the winters, it quickly multiplies until it covers all the available surface area of bodies of water. In doing so, it not only crowds out other, native surface plants and can make surface transportation difficult (for both people and wildlife), but it also shades out the underwater ecosystem. Along with many other territories, it is an invasive plant in the US Southeast, and at one point the US Congress considered but ultimately didn’t pass a bill to introduce hippopotamus to Louisiana to help manage the water hyacinth population.

This is Adrift, acrylic on artisanal handmade paper, 19.25x14.5”, 2023.

"Adrift" water hyacinth painting by artist Shelby Prindaville.

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Gardens of Memory" Wabi-Sabi

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I know, I know… I made so much new work on this past summer’s BROTA residency in the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden that I still haven’t posted it all online yet - so here’s another reveal!

This piece is titled Wabi-Sabi because I think it’s reminiscent of Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetics. It is a mixed media piece including a NOID dried leaf collected from the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden, methylcellulose and toner photographic transfer, and matte medium on artisanal handmade paper, 14x11”, 2019. 

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Gardens of Memory" Dried Sweetgum Leaf

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This is one of my favorite new pieces from this summer’s BROTA residency in the Buenos Aires Botanical Gardens! It’s a mixed media piece including a methylcellulose transfer of a photograph I took of a Monstera deliciosa collaged atop a dried sweetgum leaf (Liquidambar styraciflua). The support is handmade artisanal paper from Ato Menegazzo Papeles.

Upcoming: Small Works Juried All-Media Exhibition at the Northville Art House

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Three of my pieces have been accepted into the biennial international juried exhibition SMALL WORKS at the Northville Art House in Northville, MI. They are: Gardens of Memory: London Planetree and Maidenhair, Failed Test 1, and Failed Test 3. According to the exhibits committee, 140 works of art created by 60 artists were selected from 395 entries and 81 artists. All works had to be under 12” in length and width.

Exhibition Dates: November 1 – November 30
Location: Northville Art House, 215 W. Cady Street, Northville, MI 48167
Website: www.northvillearthouse.org
Reception: Friday, November 1 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Gardens of Memory" NOID Leaf Skeleton

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Information is power. I try to ID all of the species I work with, as each species is important and adds layers of meaning and interest to my pieces. Accuracy is equally important however - randomly guessing at species IDs does more harm than good, in my opinion. The first leaf skeleton piece I shared with you, which incorporated a sacred fig or Ficus religiosa leaf skeleton, was identifiable due to its very specific and unusual shape. In this NOID leaf skeleton, however, the shape alone does not sufficiently distinguish the leaf from other trees in the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden. Since it is a skeleton, I also cannot use leaf color, texture, weight, and/or attached branches or flowers to contribute more identification information. Though I researched for some time hoping to find a conclusive match, I eventually had to concede that I cannot definitively identify the leaf species which is what makes it a NOID (a term we use in plant identification that - perhaps obviously - stands for no identification).

This artwork is mixed media including a NOID skeleton leaf, matte medium, and handmade artisanal paper and is 12.5x9.75” (unframed dimensions).

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Transmigration Landscapes" Failed Tests

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I experimented with a number of different chromatography processes to learn which method would be conceptually and aesthetically strongest for my own practice. Two of the failed tests I did were interesting enough in their own right that I kept them, too, though as is evident they use a different technique that proved less effective at pigment differentiation than the process I used for the main Transmigration Landscapes.

These are, respectively, Failed Test 1 and Failed Test 3.

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Transmigration Landscapes"

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I had my chromatography series Transmigration Landscapes framed right before moving, and so I’ve taken the time to photograph the pieces in their final form! From this Buenos Aires Botanical Garden collection, there are seven framed pieces each containing five loosely grouped chromatography plant portraits. The framed dimensions are 8.875x30”.

These are, in order:
Transmigration Landscapes : Arc
Transmigration Landscapes: Atmosphere
Transmigration Landscapes: Cadence
Transmigration Landscapes: Flare
Transmigration Landscapes: Percussive
Transmigration Landscapes: Reflective
Transmigration Landscapes: Vibration

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Gardens of Memory" Sacred Fig Skeleton

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This is one of my favorites (I have several!) of my new pieces from this residency - it’s perfect in its deceptive simplicity. I say deceptive because work went into obtaining the components of this piece, from learning how to make banana paper while on residency in Peru, to sifting through hundreds of fallen leaves in the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden before finding this perfect leaf skeleton specimen, to discovering that the two suited each other beautifully.

This artwork is mixed media including a Ficus religiosa skeleton leaf, matte medium, and handmade banana paper and is 17x11” (unframed dimensions).

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Gardens of Memory" London Planetree Leaf

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And here is another mixed media leaf piece in the overall Gardens of Memory series. This one includes a London planetree leaf, methylcellulose, toner, and acrylic on artisanal handmade silk paper.

BROTA and Buenos Aires Artwork Series "Gardens of Memory" Oak Leaf

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This is another mixed media leaf piece in the overall Gardens of Memory series. This one includes an oak leaf, methylcellulose, toner, and acrylic on artisanal handmade silk paper.

BROTA and Buenos Aires Series "Gardens of Memory" Homes

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My new photographic transfer technique using methylcellulose and toner doesn’t require a flat surface for the substrate, so I also created this piece Gardens of Memory: Homes. Eventually displayed on a small marble pedestal, it is a mixed media sculpture including a found snail shell, bird’s nest, methylcellulose, and toner. The piece is probably a little larger than you might imagine - its core dimensions without the pedestal are 5.125 x 5.125 x 3.5”. The snail shell is that of an apple snail, so titled because they can grow to the size of an apple. I sold this piece while in Buenos Aires to another artist, the very talented Masako Kano.

BROTA and Buenos Aires Artwork Series "Gardens of Memory" Sycamore Leaf Diptych

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Here is a new diptych, meaning partner pieces that will always be shown together. Diptychs can also be framed or otherwise physically linked together, too, but in this case I am framing them separately. These are mixed media pieces including sycamore leaves, methylcellulose, toner, and acrylic on artisanal handmade papers. The first paper is a very eco-friendly renewable dyed banana paper that I collaboratively made on a former residency in Peru, and the second is a handmade silk paper from Ato Menegazzo Papeles in Buenos Aires.

BROTA and Buenos Aires Outdoor Installation Pieces

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Here are two partner pieces I created to donate and install permanently in Buenos Aires after I leave with the help of BROTA! They are both mixed media pieces including acrylic, methylcellulose, toner, and marine varnish on a tree trunk cross-section, and will be diagonally mounted on wooden poles outdoors when installed. The institution that will host these works is yet to be determined. The two pieces are part of my Garden Memories series.

BROTA and Buenos Aires Artwork Series "Transmigration Landscapes" Preview

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With permission from the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden, I have been taking plant samples and using chromatography to create a series of very literal plant self-portraits that also function as abstract landscapes. I am titling this series Transmigration Landscapes. There are 35 of these portraits, as well as 2 test designs that I liked enough to keep as well. Since I currently don’t have access to a scanner, processing photos of each to share clean images of the work requires a significant investment of time, so I figured I’d share a peek now with the promise of more to come!

BROTA and Buenos Aires Artwork 1

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I’ve been working on two different series of artwork from the start using the new-to-me methylcellulose and chromatography papers, but both are very experimental and I’m not sure exactly what the finished products should even look like at this point. That’s why I’ve yet to reveal much in terms of production other than a couple early test images from the chromatography papers.

However, I started feeling anxious about how experimental I’m being - of course it’s good to experiment, but I wanted the comfort of completing a more traditionally “me” type of piece with a clear end point. Plus, I bought those artisanal handmade papers from Ato Menegazzo Papeles, and it would be a shame not to even work on some while here!

This not-quite-finished painting is of a dwarf water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes. The common names in Spanish for this plant are (as per Wikipedia): jacinto de agua, flor de bora, camalote, aguapey, lechuguín, tarope, tarulla o reyna. I chose this plant in particular because I love how graphic and full of character it is, and the fact that it’s an aquatic plant means that the whole of the plant, including its root system, can be shown in a figure-ground relationship that also celebrates the handmade paper. Water hyacinth is an ornamental plant that is occasionally consumed and used medicinally, but is also highly invasive in warm climates and is often illegal to own or sell. An interesting dichotomy that inspired my current tentative title: Adrift.

Upcoming: BROTA Artist Residency with the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden!

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I am very excited to share that I was invited to be the second artist in residence ever at the BROTA International Residency Program in collaboration with the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden (Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays) this summer!

I will be at BROTA for a month-long residency spanning May 15 - June 15, 2019. I’m slated to have two exhibitions, one in the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden and one in the BROTA exhibition space. It’s a fantastic opportunity to focus a new body of work on botanical subject matter and I’m also looking forward to getting a chance to experience Argentina for the first time!

Estoy muy emocionada de compartir que voy a atender el programa de residencia internacional BROTA con el Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays de Buenos Aires este verano. Voy a quedar allí un mes - desde el 15 de mayo hasta el 15 de junio de 2019. El plan es tener dos exposiciones, una en el Jardín Botánico y otra en el espacio de exhibición de BROTA. ¡Es una oportunidad fantástica para enfocarme en un nuevo cuerpo de trabajo sobre un tema botánico, y también voy a experimentar la cultura argentina por primera vez!

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