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OSBAlogo acronym

Ottawa Society of Botanical Artists

MEMBER MEETINGS

GUEST SPEAKERS

 

OSBA member meetings feature presentations on a wide range of subjects from botany to photography, historic gardens, art techniques, and more.

For artists, as for scientists, bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) offer a world of untapped potential. Flying under many people’s radar due to their small relative size, these exceptional plants are deceptively gargantuan in ecological nfluence and stunning beauty, richly rewarding those who take the time to really look, and see.

In this preview presentation for the upcoming OBSA visit to the National Herbarium of Canada at the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Research and Collections facility in Gatineau, Quebec, we’ll meet the mosses and highlight just a few of the other exciting public resources that the Museum’s Herbarium Team safeguards for research, education, art and more.

April 8, 2024

Jennifer Doubt,  Curator of Botany

Canadian Museum of Nature

Marvellous mosses

& luscious liverworts

National Herbarium of Canada

A Journey through Arctic Botany

November 13, 2023

Paul Sokoloff, Senior Research Assistant, Botany
Canadian Museum of Nature

For over 100 years, botanists from the Canadian Museum of Nature have been traveling to the Arctic and across Inuit Nunangat (the Inuit homeland in Canada) to learn about the plants and lichens that call the tundra home. Join museum botanist, Paul Sokoloff, on a journey through Arctic botany, and the science and history of collecting plants above the treeline.

 

The Buzz on Bees

& Biodiversity

Pollinators could do with a little help these days, especially bees. As any gardener knows, helping bees is win-win. We rely on these insects to pollinate many fruits and vegetables. Learn how to turn any garden into a bee-friendly habitat, welcoming different native bee species.

September 11, 2023

Julianne Labreche, Master Gardener

Tri-coloured bumbebee on Queen of the Prairie

Photo by Julianne Labreche©

An introduction to wood block printed textiles of India, past and present

June 12, 2023 Andrée Pouliot

Andrée has dedicated her career to designing, developing and supporting the art of hand block printing with wood blocks. She co-founded the family business Soma Blockprints in Jaipur and continues to work as its Creative Director. Andrée also runs a fashion import business based in Ottawa.  

At the presentation, Andrée will show the woodblocks carved and utilized to print the commercial collection of home furnishing, called "Tree of Life".

Visit www.andreejaipur.com, for details about Andrée's career in block print, painting, and her online shop,

Visit www.somashop.com, the online store in Jaipur. International shipping.

The Wonderful World
of Orchids!

March 7, 2023, 7 pm
A Zoom Presentation by JANET JOHNS
President
of the Ottawa Orchid Society


What is an orchid? Is the one you see in your
favourite hardware or food store the only kind?
Learn more about where and how these lovely plants grow. Explore some additional genera from around the world that are commonly grown indoors (and in gardens) by orchidophiles in Canada.

 

Botanical Artists

at the Farm

November 14, 2022Blaine Marchand

Blaine is the Garden Director for Friends of the Central Experimental  Farm. He is a peony expert, a poet and a writer. Blaine's presentation centres on the botanical illustrators who worked at the Central Experimental Farm documenting various horticultural species over the past century. It includes historical information and examples of their illustrations.

 

Illustration of Canada moonseed from Fyles' Principal Poisonous Plants of Canada (1920)

Gardening for Nature

October 11, 2022, 7 pm  - A Zoom PresentationRaewyn Khosla

Novice gardener and OSBA Member Raewyn Khosla discovers the value and beauty of native plants in her tiny New Edinburgh garden.

IKEBANA: Bringing Art and Nature Together  

September 12, 2022

Claire McCaughey

Ikebana artist Claire McCaughey presents the Japanese art of floral design. Ikebana has been variouslycalled “Zen with flowers, living sculpture, and the art of space. She shares the aesthetic principles ofIkebana as well as some of the basic elements of making an arrangement. She also talks aboutIkebana’s connection with nature and the seasons.

Gardening for Nature

June 13, 2022Raewyn Khosla

Novice gardener and OSBA Member Raewyn Khosla discovers the value and beauty of native plants in her tiny New Edinburgh garden.

Our Interesting Weeds  

April 18, 2022Pat van der Linde

Take a walk along the roadside and woods with OSBA Member Pat van der Linde as she discovers and discusses many of the weeds we overlook everyday.

English Country Gardens Part 1  

September 13, 2021Heather Clemenson

Join OSBA Member Heather Clemenson to learn about  Tudor and Elizabethan garden design, the large formal gardens of the 17th century, and English landscape gardens. Her talk  closes with garden developments in the Victorian period and up to the First World War.  

English Country Gardens Part 2  

November 8, 2021Heather Clemenson

Heather continues Part 2 of her English Garden Design presentation. The demise of the large country houses in England, particularly following the First and Second World Wars, also has  consequences for their gardens. It describes the Arts and Crafts movement in garden design and the emergence of garden tourism.