Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Exhibition

I am so excited! On Thursday we confirmed that our exhibition for Beckler’s Botanical Bounty is going to be held in February, 2018, at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

The magnificent foyer of the Art Gallery of Ballarat (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson, 2016)

Let me do a little explaining…..

I am part of a group of botanic artists who are working on a project to collect and paint the specimens collected by Dr. Hermann Beckler on the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860. To find out more you can head to our website Beckler’s Botanical Bounty, and you may like to read other posts of mine.

Typical of the Outback habitats we explore for our plants. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson 2014)

For 6 years we have headed up to Menindee, an hour out of Broken Hill, Outback New South Wales. An exhibition has always been a priority for us and Ballarat was always at the top of our wish list. It is a wonderful, innovative gallery, with a strong interest in botanic and natural history art. Last year we finalised our exhibition proposal and sent it off to the Curator at Ballarat. And that’s where we have ended up!!

I must admit, as I was standing in the room our exhibition will be in, I thought “What have we done? Can we actually pull this off?” And then I thought “Of course we can, because we have a whole swag of supportive and knowledgeable people behind us!”

It seems like a long time away, but we have lots to do. I will certainly keep you informed. For now my first task is to get my painting finished!