Botanic garden plant photos

Botanic Garden exhibition

Pterocarya fraxinifolia and other things

Pterocarya fraxinifolia is from the Walnut family and originates from the Caucasus mountains in southwest Asia (Iran, Turkey) , the example above will be the site and the subject of my site specific botanic art exhibition next month. This species of tree was introduced to the UK in the early 1800s and this particular tree in the photograph can be found in the Cambridge University Botanic gardens. It was planted in 1850 as part of the original planting scheme by John Henslow, who is now most famous for being one of Charles Darwin's teachers when he was at the university. The original planting scheme of the garden was intended by Henslow to illustrate the variation of form within species, and we all know which theory this notion contributed to and subsequently went on to change the world. If you can, please visit the garden. Take advantage of the new audio tour which can be downloaded as a podcast direct onto youre ipod - Cambridge University Podcast. I was there today in the hot hot sun making changes to my installation plan and it was lovely.
All photos were taken in the garden this morning.

Baroque! Waldemar Januszczak

Its only now, 2 months from the end of my degree course that I'm sure of what I suspected five years ago. That is that all I want to do is art history. One day in a few years I will have to try and get on an MA art history. This post is to draw attention to the new television series for BBC 4 with Waldemar Januszczak called "Baroque!" which I enjoyed.

The series is only 3 episodes. I feel lucky to have spotted it on the IPlayer, it can be missed easily. Episode one starts in Italy at St. Peters. Januszczak wanders over the course of the series looking at the great Baroque works of art ending up in episode three at St. Pauls in London. Januszczak explains the art and artists Velasquez, Caravaggio, Zurburan, Rubens and Vermeer. Another thing I like about this series is a short bit about Jusepe De Ribera. A lesser known Spanish artist compared to the likes of Velasquez but one I've been interested in since seeing his work on show in Seville. I found ittricky to find much info about Ribera but I now have an out of print book about the artist on order, exciting.

The Bearded Woman Breastfeeding, 1631

In this series theres alot of characteristic (for Januszczak) wobbly camera journeys and the camera following him hunkering down on the floor to look at maps, lying down to best view Baroque ceiling paintings and puffing his way along pilgrim trails. It's an interesting series if you like the baroque or social history and worth a watch.

Other recent art programs I like.

The Mona Lisa Curse - Robert Hughes


The Sculpture Diaries - Waldemar Januszczak


Toulouse Lautrec - Waldemar Januszczak


The Perfect House: The Life and Work of Palladio


This is Civilisation - Matthew Collings

House I'd like to live in

Picture taken from google