In From Margaret’s Garden to the Mountains, the paths of ten different artists cross and converge, reaching a vantage point on a shared botanical and artistic heritage. The Botanicalists group of Otago-based artists present original botanical artworks taking Margaret Stoddart’s early South Island botanical paintings as its starting point. The nine artists share many of her concerns and have drawn their own inspiration from some the places Stoddart treasured.
 

“Like her, our art strives towards a range of goals, some complementary, some in tension. The plant in and of itself, or as part of a community; fidelity to the details observed, or to the overarching experience of observation. Our botanically accurate studies gain clarity from stylised elements, while our more stylised works are enlivened by staying true to botanical facts.” - The Botanicalists. 
 

Some of the group have drawn inspiration locally from the Stoddart Cottage garden and Diamond Harbour surrounds in which Stoddart was born and raised. Subjects she often painted there are referenced and reimagined afresh in their paintings. Others have followed in Margaret’s footsteps to paint Chatham Islands and alpine flora. Stoddart’s sketchbooks from these journeys captured her immediate reactions to new territory, as well as revealing her working methods. 
 

The Botanicalists are: Katharine Allard, Noelyn Buisman-Hung, Pam Hollow, Jane Marshall Fitzgerald, Anet Neutze, Zantedeschia Robini, Yvonne Vannoort, Kate Watts,  and Sigurd Wilbanks. Several work in the botanical watercolour tradition, while others explore botanical forms in jewellery, printed textiles and silverpoint.