Bird Walk with Matt Tobin
June 5, 2025, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Review Important Dates for details
Welcome to Reed-Turner Botanical Artists
Celebrating 20 Years Supporting Botanical Art and 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
June 5, 2025, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Botanical Artists Crossover Meeting via Zoom with the Central Texas Botanical Artists
Central Texas Botanical Artists is another ASBA Circle with co-founder, Christiane Fashek. Our focus will be on sharing the beauty of the native plants in our respective regions. Christina Lovering will create a slide show featuring the native plants in the Mayslake exhibition. Zoom link sent to members.
June 8, 2025, Submission for Rooted in the Shadow of Coal - Botanical Treasures of the Waukegan Dunes Deadline
Brushwood Center is celebrating the plants of the dunes. Located in the northeastern corner of Illinois, the Waukegan Dunes is an area of great environmental and historical significance that is home to hundreds of species of native plants worth celebrating. There is no fee for entry! Go to Brushwood Gallery web HERE or directly to the Call of Entry HERE
June 28, 2025, 7:30 - 9:00 a.m., Bird Walk with Matt Tobin at Heron Creek, Long Grove, Il
Join Matt Tobin on a refreshing morning bird walk at Heron Creek before our monthly meeting. The bird walk will be approximately 1.5 hours. Check calendar for more details. Sign up link coming soon.
June 28, 2025, Monthly Meeting of Reed-Turner Botanical Artist Circle
Reed-Turner Botanical Artist will meet at Reed-Turner Woodland Preserve. The Board of Directors will be reviewing current and future activities and events with the committees.
Botanical Education Opportunities
This list is intended for the midwest area. It is in not all inclusive. The intention is to show the availiblity 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:
June 10 Enhance Nature’s Patterns in Watercolor with Thomas Trash.
Use pen-and-ink techniques with watercolor to fully enhance this artistic beauty of patterns through observation. Review lecture and register HERE.
June 11 Watercolor, Pen, andColored Pencil: Online with Judith Joseph.
Explore line-drawing and enhance it with luminous watercolor in a harmonious balance. Then enhance your work with colored pencil for texture and depth of color. Review lecture and register HERE.
June 12 Rory McEwen’s Botanical Influences by Leora Siegel, senior director, Lenhardt Library, Lenhardt Library, Regenstein Center.
Discover botanical treasures by those who influenced him, including Pierre Joseph Redouté. The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Rare Book collection encompasses five centuries of literature in botany, botanical art, horticulture, agriculture, and landscape design. Review lecture and register HERE.
Heeyoug Kim offers many botanical art courses both in person and online. Here are a few coming soon:
June 22 to August 31, Special Series: How to Improve Your Watercolor Painting Skills
Workshop 1 - Value and Form
Workshop 2 - Painting Green Leaves
Workshop 3 - White Flowers with Leaves
Review her courses and register HERE
Review her courses and register HERE
July 25, 26 & 27, Three Workshops At Driehaus Museum: Drawing, Color And Pollinators
For those who are inspired by the exhibition and want to learn how to approach botanical subjects, contemporary botanical artist, Heeyoung Kim offers 3 workshops with well-sorted themes for both experienced and beginner artists and hobbyists. On each day, the workshop theme is different, yet designed with a cohesive flow to be registered separately or altogether. Register HERE
Julia Trickey Talks are one hour presentations from award winning botanical artist and experienced tutors. Here are a few coming soon:
June 12 - 7:00 pm Harmonic Shadows with Sandrine Maugy, Register HERE
26 June 2025 - 7pm #FLORILEGIA Florilegegia with Emma van Klaveren. 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:
July 31, 2025 Creating an In-Situ Painting with Betsy Rogers-Knox. Register HERE
August 14, 2025 Painting Leaves in Watercolor on Vellum with Akiko Enokido. Register HERE
August 28, 2025 Drawing Flowers in Colored Pencil and Pan Pastel with Jeanne Reiner. Register HERE
September 11, 2025 Watercolor Painting in Sepia Tone with Lara Call Gastinger. Register HERE
Exhibitions & Events
Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature
May 16-August 17, 2025
The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 50 East Erie Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611
McEwen was singularly devoted to the technical aspects and traditions of his crafts and how, in the case of his paintings, they enabled him to capture, in the minutest of detail, the essence of his subjects—plants of all kind—in all their organic beauty.
Plan your visit to Driehaus Museum HERE
Rooted in the Shadow of Coal - Botanical Treasures of the Waukegan Dunes
July 13 – August 31, 2025
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, 21850 N Riverwoods Rd, Riverwoods, IL 60015
In this exhibition, Brushwood Center will celebrate the plants of the dunes that remain, and also address the Dune's environmental importance and the dangers that it and the community that live around it face. Opening reception Sunday, July 13, 2025, 1-3pm
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)
Heron Creek, Lake County Forest Preserve Image