January 9 – March 3, 2013
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, FL
Science inspires art in colorful mixed media show, Florida Fantastica by Philadelphia native MF Cardamone. Her clear and insightful artwork illuminates people’s relationship with plants. The exhibition is included in Selby Gardens admission and will be on display in The Museum of Botany and the Arts January 9 – March 3, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm. Guests will have the opportunity to meet Cardamone at the free public opening on January 10.
In this unique form of art, Cardamone records a plant’s life history, ecology, folklore, wildlife value and medicinal uses by combining specimens with digital imagery, inks and hand drawn touches that playfully modernize the traditions of plant specimen mounting and botanical illustration. Like Selby Gardens, Cardamone has a passion for the education and preservation of plants, but above all, her artwork strives to express the connections between plants and people. She explains, “I like to create visual puzzles with my work and try to evoke a sense of mystery and wonder in the viewer because that’s the way I feel about the natural world. I’m in awe of its power to sustain and heal us – and its beauty!”
Together with Selby Gardens’ Botany Director, Bruce Holst, Education Director, Jeannie Perales, and Horitculture Director, Mike McLaughlin, Cardamone developed a list of plants representing both the Gardens and Florida. Many of these selections will be featured in the Florida Fantastica exhibition which coincides by design with statewide celebrations of Florida’s 500th anniversary.
Special Programming:
1. Public Opening Reception – Museum of Botany and the Arts, January 10, 5:30 pm
2. Associates’ Luncheon Lecture by Jeannie Perales – Mattison’s Forty-One, January 21, 11:30 am
3. “The Art of Plants” – Plant & Garden Festival, Selby Gardens, February 23, 24, 10:00am–5:00pm
4. Free Noon Lecture: Of Plants & People with Dr. Matthew Mclendon, February 26, 12:00pm – 1:00pm
811 South Palm Avenue, Sarasota, FL
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