Artist Becky Uhler writes "In my Midwest childhood, one of the two ways I found peace was in the woods building forts, exploring, and collecting critters. The second path to that peace was in making art. The Master Gardener program in Oregon offered classes that deepened my appreciation of plants and developed my passion for learning about the interconnectedness that links all of creation. I recently earned a Certificate of Natural Science Illustration from the University of Washington. New York State Museum accepted a recent piece, Hamamelis intermedia , into its “Focus on Nature X” exhibit.
I approach my mid 40s feeling that I am finally working from my center. I still find nature and its intricate workings fascinating and elegant, and want to express that elegance. Through natural science illustration, I hope to cultivate in others a love of the natural world and a commitment to its preservation." More at www.earthsongart.com.
Uhler's watercolor of prairie smoke is the 2008 traditional winner.
Gretchen Peters of Gering, NE is an artist and avid arts supporter
from western Nebraska. She makes colored pencil drawings from the
area's landscapes. She taught art at Gering High
School for 35 years, volunteers for the arts and has served on many
arts boards including the Nebraska Art Council, Nebraskans for the
Arts, Nebraska Endowment for the Arts, Theatre West and West
Nebraska Arts Center. Her art work appears in numerous private
collections, businesses and galleries across the country.
She won the 2006 and 2008 interpretive botanical print competitions with her illustrations of common sunflower and quaking aspen (2008).
Katrina Methot-Swanson writes " While growing up in Nebraska, I have always been inspired by nature. The tall grasses, the Autumn leaves and of course the beautiful flowers in the wild and in neighborhood gardens. God has created such beauty and I want to capture that beauty in my paintings. I have taught myself to paint with watercolor, which is perfectly suited to my photo realistic style, enabling me to achieve wonderful detail and very vibrant colors. I use a combination of glazing and dry brush technique to add depth and detail to the painting." She has had showings at Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, NE; the Governor's Mansion Show in Lincoln, NE; and has won many awards.
Her switchgrass watercolor won the interpretive category of the 2007 botanical print competition. Her work can be viewed at www.katrinamethotswanson.com.
Scientific illustrator Karina Helm completed the prestigious graduate program in Scientific Illustration at the University of California-Santa Cruz in 2002. Since then she has been freelancing, creating scientific and natural history illustrtation for research accompaniment, educational purposes, logos and private commissions. A member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the Great Plains GNSA, her work has been displayed in juried exhibitions throughout the country and has appeared in numerous publications. Most recently the common sunflower illustration chosen by NSA for the 2006 botanical print was chosen for a "Focus on Nature IX" exhibit at the New York State Museum. Helm's work can be viewed at www.helmillustration.com.
Karina Helm won both the 2006 and 2007 botanical print competition with her illustrations of little bluestem (2007) and common sunflower.
Carol Rustad of Lincoln, NE
won the 2005 botanical illustration category of the botanical print competition with her illustration of spiderwort (made possible with funding from the Nebraska Arts Council). Rustad's work has been shown in juried shows and collections throughout the country. She travels around the world, to places like Tanzania, Ecuador and Norway, searching for wildflowers and painting only from live specimens. Her illustration of spiderwort is also available as a mousepad.
Rustad has a master's in Fine Arts from UNL but says her “interest and passion for wildflowers goes beyond the arts.” She has been leading wildflower tours in Minnesota for many years. When she discovered recently that one of the prime areas for wildflowers was being logged, Rustad approached the farmer about preserving the environment and is now the owner of “seven acres of bluffs and ravines totally unsuitable for farmland.” Rustad is thankful this valuable wildflower habitat will be preserved forever. She also serves on the Wachiska-Audubon Conservation Committee, working to preserve areas of virgin prairie in all the 17 counties in their regional district.
Yoshiko Kamei, a
Japanese artist, won the 2005 traditional botanical print category with her spiderwort illustration and also the 2004 competition with her illustrations of coneflower and hydrangea. Kamei's botanical illustrations were recently featured with those of her students at a “School of Yoshiko Kamei” exhibit at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Illustration in Pennsylvania. Her work has
been in both individual and group exhibitions throughout Japan; she belongs
to several botanical art organizations; her work has been reproduced in
a number of publications; and she has won many awards, including the "Award
Exhibition of Botanical Illustration of Japan."
Roberta Sward, an artist whose studio is in Lincoln, Nebraska's Burkholder Project, won the 2003 and 2002 botanical print competition with her illustrations of common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca and wild rose, Rosa woodsii. Sward teaches oil and acrylic painting and drawing and has won several awards, including Lincoln Artists' Guild Juried Shows and Phi Theta Kappa Seven State Competition. She has a painting in Wesleyan University's Permanent Collection and her work can be seen in the Burkholder Galleries. Sward is past President of the Lincoln Artists' Guild and has served on the Boards of the Lincoln Arts Council and the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs, Inc.
Anne Kennedy, a watercolor artist from McCook, NE, won the 2001 botanical print competition with her illustration of redbud, Cercis canadensis. Kennedy has been painting botanicals, landscapes, still lifes and florals for three years and has already won awards and honors at both the local and state level. One of her botanical paintings is traveling with the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs (ANAC) annual show. In addition to her artwork, Anne has her own landscape design and consultation service. She is vice president of McCook's local Art Guild and Fine Arts Gallery, and is an active member of McCook's city tree board.
Diane Murphy, winner of the 1st and 2nd NSA Botanical Print Competition (1999 and 2000) taught art at Westside High School for 32 years. The past five years she has taught art part-time at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, NE.
Diane brings to her botanical painting a background rooted in a love of nature. Growing up on a farm in South Dakota, she developed an awareness of native plants and plants she watched her parents grow, hybridize and care for. She loves gardening, travel, mentoring and working in the watercolor medium.
Throughout the years, her work has been shown in various galleries in South Dakota and Nebraska and she continues to work with the theme of nature as the subject for her inspiration and work.