Gardens Aglow tickets are on sale NOW! Weekends and holidays do sell out, so get your tickets early to ensure your ideal day and time.
Seeds are rarely depicted in art, but that’s exactly what you’ll do in this online workshop. Using a standard microscope or handheld digital microscope, participants will explore, then depict, the textures and patterns of magnified seeds. After a brief discussion of vellum’s properties and types, we'll lay out drawings before transferring them to the material itself.
Tuesday and Thursday, June 22 and 24 | This two-day workshop focuses on the monarch butterfly's life cycle in symbiotic relationship to its host plant, milkweed. Depict flight by learning basic butterfly anatomy and wing positioning. Understand basic metamorphosis and how the butterfly interacts in the pollination process. Color application can be in watercolor and/or colored pencil. All levels welcome!
Using watercolor, capture the peace and majestic beauty of our forests. In this class we’ll explore some of the techniques used to build depth, atmosphere, and capture a sense of light. Conducted via Zoom, day one will be include group instruction. Days two and three will be held at the Gardens, and participants will paint plein air, receiving one-on-one instruction and feedback.
Bees play a vital role in our environment, especially when it comes to pollination. Honey bees and native bees are all abuzz this time of year. Learn to capture their behavior and create a composition featuring your favorite native flower! Color application can be in watercolor and or colored pencil. All levels are welcome!
Join naturalist and botanical watercolor artist Hillary Parker for a fascinating three-day botanical watercolor workshop exploring the submerged plant life growing along the rocky shoreline of the Gardens' stretch of the Back River.
Paint a beautiful silk scarf with a botanical theme. Specimens will be provided by the Gardens to inspire your creativity and design. Students will go home with a lovely scarf and a fun new skill. Materials are provided for a $20 fee, collected on the first day of the workshop.
Celebrate the natural world by creating a work of art honoring the relationship between an animal and a plant. Block printing, a form of relief printing, is the oldest, simplest, and most direct approach to making an impression. Experience all aspects of the process, from handling and care of tools through inking and printing your own images by hand.
Drip, pour, drag, layer, heat, and incise! Learn the art of encaustic painting in this hands-on workshop using pigmented wax and a heated palette! Through a rich variety of marks and surfaces, explore the various painting techniques of this seductive medium. We will also look to CMBG’s gardens as sources of inspiration.
Thursdays, April 7 and 14 | Delve deeply into depicting botanical subjects with graphite. Using fruits and vegetables, gain an in-depth understanding of how light affects individual shapes in nature including highlights, midtones, shadow areas, reflected highlights, and cast shadows. Great for ages 14-adult, beginners, or those looking to refine their drawing and observation skills.
Thursdays, April 21 and 28, May 5 and 12 | Delve deeply into depicting botanical subjects with graphite. Using fruits and vegetables, gain an in-depth understanding of how light affects individual shapes in nature including highlights, midtones, shadow areas, reflected highlights, and cast shadows. Great for beginners and those looking to refine their drawing and observation skills.
Mindy Lighthipe image.[/caption]
For new and returning Botanical Arts Certificate students: join us to review 2022’s courses, the requirements needed to receive your certificate, and an introduction to this year’s instructors and their artwork. Those already enrolled in the program should sign up to attend, but there is no need to pay an additional fee. The presentation will be indoors and masks will be required; students must be members of the Gardens to enroll in this program.
Please note this class requires participants to show proof of having received all eligible Covid-19 vaccinations, as recommended for their age by the CDC, in order to participate. Because of the dynamic nature of this situation, we ask that you agree to abide by potential future changes in CMBG’s Covid-19 policy designed to address evolving public health recommendations.
Friday, May 27 and Saturday, June 4 | With a core understanding of plant biology, working with nature takes on a whole new depth. Beginning with basic plant anatomy, students will learn how every aspect of the organism works together to sustain photosynthesis, respiration, and water and mineral uptake.
Tuesday and Wednesday, July 26 and 27 | This intensive, two-day course explores and unites two creative processes: poetry and the visual arts. Taking inspiration from the forms, colors, and inhabitants of the Gardens, students will write, illustrate, and design an artists’ book, including a two-pamphlet paperback journal, a flag book, and a layered accordion book. Day one begins in the classroom, then moves into the Gardens for inspiration. Day two begins with poetry prompts, then students will venture off on their own to create patterns in poetic response to the Gardens. Students will also gain a playful acquaintance with poetic forms like the villanelle, the sestina, and the pantoum.
Monday-Wednesday, August 15-17 | Join instructor Kate MacGillivary for this three-day class focusing on rendering the beautiful details of garden blossoms and buds in colored pencil. Designed for students with some previous drawing experience, this class offers plenty of time to create a beautiful drawing. Kate will give students the time and attention needed to get a wonderful feel for the medium of colored pencil. Plant material for students to study and draw will be provided.
The mission of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is to inspire meaningful connections between people and nature and promote plant conservation through horticulture, education, and plant science.
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