The BAGSC 25th Anniversary Celebration
The Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California (BAGSC) Celebrates its 25th Anniversary
In 1997, an enthusiastic group of botanical art students taught by Olga Eysymontt at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens decided to create an official group, with the purpose of promoting botanical art in Southern California. We quickly came up with a name and the immediate goal of our first botanical art exhibition. Within a year we organized a week-long workshop taught by Anne-Marie Evans. Our next goal was to become an official chapter of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA), accomplished by becoming the third chapter in 2001. In the 25 years since our inception, membership has grown from nine Los Angeles area members to 164 members from around the world.
What better way to celebrate BAGSC’s 25th than with an exhibition about the Iris, the flower associated with 25th Anniversaries? BAGSC members contributed 19 works for an exhibition at The Huntington’s Brody Center.
Also shown with our Iris exhibition was part of a prior exhibition entitled Gifts from Japan. Guest-curated by Robert Hori of The Huntington for an earlier exhibition this past summer at the Portland Japanese Garden, this concurrent exhibition showcases contemporary botanical artworks from Japanese artists. Seeing the Iris and Gifts from Japan exhibitions together made for extraordinary botanical art viewing during our celebratory evening.
