The Botanicalists
3 Apr 2025
27 Apr 2025
From Margaret’s Garden to the Mountains
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.
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.