Celebrating 20 Years
Supporting Botanical Art and Artists!
The First Meeting of the Red-Turner Botanical Artist was on October 29, 2005,
Derek Norman convened the meeting.
Botanical art connects science to people with one finely tuned, articulate voice. And it draws us to plants, to conservation, and to a sense of awareness and concern that without plants we are nothing. All of which makes the subject of botanical art so enormously relevant - more relevant today, perhaps, than it has been for generations. Derek Norman
Welcome to Reed-Turner Botanical Artists
Each year Reed-Turner Botanical Artist (RTBA) brings local botanical artists together to educate each other and the public about botany and the conservation of our natural resources through their artwork. Members have achieved success in presenting their botanical artwork at exibitions in the community. Members have also achieved success in national and international exhibitions, written articles in ASBA The Botanical Artist magazine and published books on botanical art. Reed-Turner Botanical Artist have made great strides in their 20 years.
Reed-Turner Botanical Artists is a Circle affiliated with the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA). Artists’ Circles are independent associations with a mutual interest in botanical art whose participants may be comprised of ASBA members and non-members. Reed-Turner Botanical Artists also maintains an ongoing relationship with the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Members meet monthly throughout the year. Meetings give members the opportunity to gather together with fellow botanical artists, learn botanical art techniques, become educated about botany, and share their botanical artwork.
Important Dates
October 25, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
20th Anniversary Meeting of Reed-Turner Botanical Artist Circle
Reed-Turner Botanical Artist Circle members and former members are all welcome to celebrate their China Anniversary — 20 Years of service to the botanical arts community of the midwest. The celebration will be at Reed-Turner Woodland Preserve.
The Reed-Turner Woodland Florilegium will be on display in addition to a bit of RTBA history. A potluck luncheon will be served.
Botanical Education Opportunities
This list is intended for the midwest area. It is in not all inclusive. The intention is to show the availability of botanical art education online or in-person this area.
Contact the RTBA website administrator HERE if you have a course coming up and would like it to be announced on the website or in the RTBA Newsletter.
Chicago Botanical Garden offers many botanical art courses both in person and online. Here are a few coming soon:
October 27 – December 8, 2025 English Watercolor Techniques
Nancy Halliday, freelance artist and naturalist. This course does have prerequisite: Prerequisites—Botanical Drawing 1, Color Mixing, and Watercolor 1. Use live plant materials and build on techniques learned in Watercolor I. Register HERE.
October 28 – December 9, 2025 Judith Joseph, artist and educator. This class will be taught online via Zoom in the afternoons. Learn to create luminous watercolors from the ground up. Observe an instructor demo each week and gain technical skills to achieve greater control and enjoyment with this medium. Register HERE.
Heeyoug Kim offers many botanical art courses both in person and online. Here are a few coming soon:
Nov 6, 13, 20, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm The First Step toward Bird Painting: Demystifying the Complex Bird Anatomy for Accurate Drawing and Painting
This third in the series of 3 workshops is designed for those who want to add faunal elements such as birds to their botanical paintings, but have not gotten courage to start yet, or do not have enough knowledge and experience about drawing/painting them. Kim will guid them from drawing to painting with easy-to-follow demonstrations.
Register HERE for any in this series
Julia Trickey Talks are one hour presentations from award winning botanical artist and experienced tutors. Here are a few coming soon:
23 October 2025 - 7pm Scratchboard Drama with Rhonda Nass. Register HERE.
ASBA offers many botanical presentations and tutorials online: most of these workshops are $15 for members and $25 for non-member. Here are a few coming soon:
November 13, 2025 - 1pm, The Studio Is a State of Mind with Kerri Weller. Members register HERE.
Exhibitions & Events
Through the Eyes of Piping Plovers: Flora, Fauna & People of the Waukegan Shores
Waukegan History Museum, 1 N. Sheridan Rd, Waukegan, IL
September 12 - October 31, 2025
In collaboration with Share Our Shore - Waukegan (Lake County Audubon) and Waukegan History Museum at Carnegie, Heeyoung Kim, and 14 artists from Brushwood Monday Open Workshop and Tuesday Eco-Botancial Zoom Workshop of HK Botanical Art Academy took on a new theme, shorebirds, migrating/residential birds, and other fauna and flora in the dunes ecosystem, mainly of Waukegan shores.
Reception: Sept 12, 2025, 2 - 4 pm, 2025
Call for Entry
28th Annual International American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center, September 26 - November 23, 2025
Submission Deadline: Friday, April 18, 2025
Botanical specimens. Work may have appeared in regional exhibitions, but may not have been shown in another international juried exhibition of ASBA.
Details of this Call for Entry HERE
ASBA Orchids: Jewels of the Plant World / The Sixth New York Botanical Garden Triennial, Opening February 2027
Submission Deadline: September 11, 2026
The theme for The Sixth New York Botanical Garden Triennial is all about orchids, whether terrestrial or epiphytic, found nearby or anywhere in the world. The diversity of orchids is incredible; there are over 30,000 species and over 100,000 hybrids.
Details of this Call for Entry HERE
From Our Blog
Botanical Sketches and Rambles
Chronicling the interests and activities of Reed-Turner Botanical Artists Circle
Dues are $25 for the year. These dues are put towards programs, website and exhibition costs.
Memberships are for a calendar year, January through December.
Benefits
Shared community of local botanical artist with common goals
Stay up-to-date with the botanical arts events
Workshops, lectures, and field trips throughout the year
Annual local exhibition opportunity
Listing of members websites and artwork in exhibition galleries
Contact us for more information about joining Reed-Turner Botanical Artist
Membership
Background artwork: George Dionysius Ehret (1708 - 1770)