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Botanical Garden to present ’Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps‘ Aug. 30-Nov.2

The contemporary art exhibition and related events pay tribute to the influence of botanical illustrators John and William Bartram

 

(Chapel Hill, N.C.—Aug. 22, 2014) An exhibition of 44 original contemporary plant illustrations that offers a fresh look at 18th-century botanical illustrators John and William Bartram opens Aug. 30 at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. “Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps” will be on display through Nov. 2 in the DeBerry Art Gallery of the James and Delight Allen Education Center.

 

Many of the 26 events associated with the exhibition are free and open to the public but require registration online at http://ncbg.unc.edu/bartram/. The listing of events also includes information about any fees required. Among the workshops, talks and classes are discussions led by Andrea Wulf, who wrote “The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession,” on Sept. 28 and “Cold Mountain” author Charles Frazier, whose main character carries a copy of William Bartram’s “Travels” on his long journeyon Oct. 19.

 

“Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps” was organized by the American Society of Botanical Artists in New York and Bartrams’ Garden, a 45-acre historic site less than 15 minutes from the heart of Philadelphia.

 

Between the 1730s and the 1790s, John and his son William Bartram traveled throughout the eastern wilderness, discovering and drawing as many kinds of plants as they could. The two are credited with identifying more than 200 native plants.

 

“The exhibit and rich array of associated programs is a remarkable representation of the mission and diverse activities of the North Carolina Botanical Garden,” said Peter White, director of the garden. “John and William Bartram not only represent the best scientific explorers of their day, but were also inspired by the beauty of the natural world and the bounty it offers us all.”

 

The two-month fall exhibition will include Bartram plant discoveries in the NCBG and adjoining Nature Trail. Two of the featured illustrations are works by Bill Alberti and Maryann Roper, graduates of the NCGB Certificate in Botanical Art and illustration.

 

Carolina-

 

Website:www.ncbg.unc.edu/bartram

Botanical Gardens media contact: Jennifer Peterson, (919) 962-9457, jennifer.peterson@unc.edu

General questions: (919) 962-0522, bartram@unc.edu

News Services contact: Susan Hudson, (919) 962-8415, susan_hudson@unc.edu

 

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