Claudia Stevens

In the art of traditional botanical painting, each flower is painted from real life plant specimens with the purpose of documenting exotics, natives, medicinal, and endangered plant species, and increasing public awareness of the importance to respect and save our biotic resources. “I am fascinated with the architecture and complexity of plant structure and inspired with the beauty of plant life.”

Claudia works in watercolor and gouache with silverpoint. Using a dry brush technique on hot paper, she works with translucent layering and glazing. Her technique begins by gathering plant specimens directly from the natural environment. She is a 2011/2012 recipient of the Creative Work Fund: collaborating with UCSC Arboretum and the Tribal Council to complete four traveling exhibits. Her work has appeared in Sunset Magazine, Bantam Books, Academic Press, Harcourt Brace & Co., Rodale Press, University Press, and elsewhere. Link to Stanford.

melody :: Jul.16.2011 :: Exhibitions :: No Comments »

Stevens’ partnership with the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum was a natural fit because of her work in the gardens during college. Her illustrations will be installed as part of the Amah Mutsun Relearning Garden at the Arboretum, which will feature native plant species used thousands of years ago for food, fiber, tools, construction and medicine. The hope is that the work will help future generations better understand their land and the variety of uses to which plants were historically put.

Blue elderberry, red maids and summer buckeye will be among the species documented in the new exhibit. Stevens captures the structure of each specimen from both live and dried samples first in pencil, then in paint. “It really does make a difference when I can work from the live specimens,” she says.

The paintings will go into a traveling exhibit this summer, showing at Filoli Gardens, Stanford University, The Museum of Art & History (MAH) and the Cooper-Adobe Historic Museum before coming to their permanent home in Santa Cruz.

admin :: Mar.06.2010 :: Exhibitions :: 1 Comment »