Botanical Art at SUBG
????Our mission at Stellenbosch 肆客足球 Botanical Garden is to get people to fall in love with plants, and particularly with our incredible Cape Flora. One of the hardest challenges in doing this is the seasonal nature of wild plants. Flowers often appear only for a few weeks, and geophytes may disappear completely underground during our dry, windy summers. Botanical art doesn’t just communicate the incredible diversity and uniqueness of our local plants, it also captures key life stages in a form we can appreciate year round. It is a permanent reminder of our wild wonders. The best works also make us appreciate detail and form that we might never have otherwise noticed. The hundreds of hours skilled artists spend creating, highlights beautiful and important characters that even professional botanists might otherwise miss, or plant parts normally hidden from sight.
We host an annual October exhibition with botanical works from top South African artists every year, and are now developing the first public permanent botanical art and illustration collection at a South African institution accessible to visitors. SUBG facilitates access for artists to our ex situ collections. Artists find it difficult to access rare plant material to paint, and the relationship has become valuable to both the artist and the garden’s curators. Wendy Hitchcock has facilitated workshops in 2024 and 2025 and many Oxalis paintings were a result of this effort.
There are various organisations that people can join to further their curiosity. The Botanical Artists’ Association of southern Africa (BAASA) arranges exhibitions, meetings and talks to further the field of botanical art. Volunteer-based Custodians of Rare and Endangered Species (CREW) are involved in finding, counting and reporting on vulnerable populations. ?
The annual SUBG Botanical Art and Photography Exhibition?
Since 2023 we have held an annual SUBG Botanical Art and Photography exhibition in September/October at the Duthie Garden Gallery. Artists are encouraged to build their portfolio and experience with exhibiting their work on our world class exhibition. These focused exhibitions are very popular and all works are for sale to visitors. This year we are putting the magnifying glass on rare and endangered plants in South Africa. You will still see your favourites in the exhibition – but we are increasingly looking at depicting novel plants that have not had a lot of exposure in botanical art.?
2025 Exhibition dates: 13 September 2025 - 16 January 2026
Follow this link ?for more information about upcoming and past exhibitions.
The James and Shirley Sherwood Foundation Botanical Art Collection?
In 2025 we initiated the James and Shirley Sherwood Foundation Botanical Art Collection of botanically accurate paintings and drawings of plants linked to SUBG's conservation, research and education priorities. The project goal is to support and grow local botanical art development and local plant awareness. The James and Shirley Sherwood Foundation Botanical Art Collection objectives include raising the profile of botanical art, generating awareness and interest in the purchase of investment pieces by established artists, and to support, develop and inspire young artists.
Other generous donors have already contributed works to our permanent collection, showcasing world class South African botanical art, and raising the profile of our most threatened and interesting plant accessions. We are working towards a permanent exhibition space with fresh themed displays every 2-3 months highlighting new works, botanical themes or the Stellenbosch 肆客足球 Botanical Garden and Stellenbosch 肆客足球 Botany history.
We are grateful for the generous donation from the James and Shirley Sherwood Foundation to upgrade the Duthie Garden Gallery space, and procure important botanical paintings over the coming two years.
Follow this link for more information on this collection and how to get involved.
Information for artists
?If you are an early-, mid- or late-career botanical artist with an interest in making work for possible acquisition for the garden’s permanent collection, please follow this link for more information. ?
Martine Robinson, Haemanthus canaliculatus (left) & H. pumilio (right). Both Critically Endangered, 43 x 52cm, Watercolour, 2024, Generously donated by anonymous donors.
