Heeyoung Kim is a botanical artist whose illustrations and paintings of American prairie plants have graced posters, postcards and exhibition catalogs. Earlier this year, Heeyoung’s paintings of prairie plants were awarded a gold medal by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in England. Heeyoung’s collection of paintings at the RHS show focused on the common, rare and endangered plants of the American prairie. Heeyoung explains why she is devoted to documenting these rapidly disappearing plants:
Since the late 1800s, the fertile tallgrass prairie has been converted into an intensive crop producing area. This region of the US is called America’s ‘breadbasket’ or ‘corn belt’. What was once the largest ecosystem of the American continent with a biodiversity rivaling the richest rainforests, has yielded to commercial agriculture leaving its flora and fauna in peril.
Heeyoung brings attention to the fragile state of America’s prairies by exhibiting her work in national and international exhibitions such as Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World, a traveling exhibition by the American Society of Botanical Artists. Her award-winning RHS paintings were recently featured in a solo exhibition at Northbrook Library in Northbrook, IL.
Heeyoung began her botanical art career in January 2007. Before this time, painting was more of a recreational activity. When she first came to the U.S., she started painting with oil and colored pencil just to make friends and to learn English at the senior center where she volunteered. Then one day, after a couple of years of painting this way, she noticed that every single painting was a detailed floral painting. She began to think about painting flowers seriously, but didn’t know how to begin until she saw a magazine published by the Chicago Botanic Garden. “It mentioned something like ‘botanical art’, which I had never heard of in my life,” says Heeyoung.
So Heeyoung enrolled in Botanical Drawing 1 at the Chicago Botanic Garden and became a botanical artist the moment her instructor shared samples of botanical art with the class. Heeyoung says, “I felt like the drawings grabbed me right in the heart.”
After completing this class, she signed up for Botanical Drawing 2, Ink Drawing 1, Ink Drawing 2 and other classes offered through the botanical art certificate program at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Instead of pursuing a certificate in botanical art, Heeyoung decided to work on independent projects and to work with her instructor independently. The mentor who inspired her so much was Derek Norman, Vice President of the American Society of Botanical Artists. As Heeyoung explains, “I was with the right person from the beginning.”
During her first year of botanical painting, Heeyoung spent all of her available time at the Reed-Turner Nature Center in Long Grove, Illinois. Fascinated by the many beautiful woodland plants that grew “like magic in every moment, showing off their flowers and preparing for the next generation”, Heeyoung began to draw the different stages of plant development she observed. She did this without having any purpose in mind. “I just loved the changes,” she says.
Sometime later, Heeyoung became friends with Stephen Packard, the leader of a Chicago land volunteer team working to restore the tallgrass prairie. Heeyoung was surprised to learn that the tallgrass prairie is almost extinct and that there are experts and volunteers working tirelessly to preserve what remains of America’s prairies. These same experts and volunteers are also converting abandoned farmland back into prairie. Heeyoung explains that, while the conservation efforts are strong and steady, the public has no idea what is happening with the remnants of prairie located within their own neighborhoods. Upon learning this, Heeyoung knew that she could do something to change this.
I believe art is a great way to make connections with people and to inspire them to act. At this point my prairie project started. I changed my website domain to www.PrairiePlantArt.com, and started to focus on painting prairie plants from my long wishlist. When I had my first solo exhibition at Ryerson Woods Conservation Area last spring, I invited Stephen Packard to the opening reception and shared stories about prairie culture and restoration. That was an eye-opening moment to most of the 320 attendees.
I showed eight paintings from my prairie project at RHS London last March and twenty-six drawings and paintings at a local public library in May. When the art director of the library invited me to have a solo show there, I hesitated a little because I was concerned about possible damage to the artwork from heavy traffic, especially from the many children visitors. But then I thought that libraries can be the best place to get (the public’s) attention. So I accepted the offer gratefully. The result was fantastic. The best feedback was, ‘The whole town was in awe!’
Please join me in welcoming Heeyoung Kim as the Featured Artist for July!
You have painted many species of prairie plants. Do you work off a checklist? How do you decide which prairie plant to paint next? I understand you have a “plant scout” who helps you locate plants in the field. How much time do you spend in the field?
Heeyoung:
I do broad research on mid-west native plants through books, websites, magazines, and most importantly through my own observation. Based on my years’ long research, I have a long (really long) list of native plants that I wish I could paint some day. My priority is always to focus on rare and endangered species, as they should be documented and protected before it is too late.
Along with my long plant list, I try to make a long list of friends and experts who can help me with plant identification or locating. Nobody just tells you where the concerned plants are. You need to develop trusting relationships with scientists, plant monitors or stewards to get access to them. They are super protective, almost religiously. Of course, they need to be. Once you get access, you must keep a plant’s location confidential.
My ‘plant scouts’ love to see ‘their plants’ bloom as artwork. It is an absolute joy for both of us.
I literally spend all my workable and available time in the field from early spring to late fall. Sometimes I draw, other times I just enjoy being there and pulling Garlic Mustards, or just seeing what is growing, or how big some seeds have grown, and so on and so forth.
Readers, you are invited to join in the conversation with Heeyoung Kim.
Your comments and questions are welcome below.
After you locate a plant in the field, how do you approach recording the plant’s information? Do you begin with a written description of its identifying characteristics or do you prefer to think visually and create a sketch first?
Heeyoung:
When I am introduced to a new plant either with help from my “plant scout” or through a book, I can usually see it from its blooming season. I do start sketching parts of the plant, but I prefer working with the whole composition after I see its full life cycle in the next year.
Both written and graphic records are essential for a proper description, I believe. I usually start measuring botanically distinctive features of the plant with the metric system first. I then draw them from different angles and in various stages with color notes or sample coloring with colored pencil or watercolor. I know we are used to inch and feet in America, but in most other countries they use the metric system and they require you to write scales in centimeters and millimeters when you do scientific illustration and write a plant legend. For color notes, sometimes I just write down the paint tube names I will probably use to paint the plant. I find this works very well for me, as I can directly envision the painting process while I am looking at the plant.
I record all of my notes on one large paper, which I always have with me whenever I go out for sketch.
You have stated that you want your art to be a teaching tool that makes people more aware of plants and their fundamental role for human survival. Each plant possesses its own “lesson”. Do you design the lesson behind your paintings in advance as you plan your composition? Or, do simply begin your painting and write your plant’s story as it develops in front of you?
Heeyoung:
I have 3 very specific goals with my art.
First, I want my botanical paintings to be considered as artworks.
Second, I hope my paintings would serve as scientific resources when needed.
Third, I wish my art would inspire people to get involved in nature conservation.
In order to accomplish these goals, I try my best to understand the scientific features of my subjects first, and then I compose those scientific information on paper exclusively to please my eyes in an artistic way. Composition is the biggest part of my painting. Very often I spend weeks only for that. Through this design process, I deliberately incorporate my message or story to communicate with potential viewers. Nothing just happens, unless I have huge luck!
Amazingly many people actually read my messages when they see my works. Then, it is easy to start conversation about native plants and their hazardous situation, how much we humans rely on plant resources, why indigenous plants are so significant, what we as an individual can do in our back yard, and finally what some local groups are doing for eco conservation, etc. Mostly the reactions from viewers are very positive. They usually sign up for volunteer, try to plant more native species in their gardens, or even invite me for further lecture about it through local garden clubs.
Readers, wonder how Heeyoung begins her paintings?
Find out this Fall when Heeyoung will teach Back to Basics: Pencil Drawing, a special one-day class at the conference of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA). Heeyoung will teach the fundamental drawing techniques required for fine botanical drawing. Rediscover the beauty of the most humble medium when Heeyoung teachers this class on Saturday, October 20, 2012. View Details
Current ASBA membership required to register for classes.
I read the painting of Silene regia, the Royal Catchfly (Image 6), took two years to create. What challenges did you encounter with this project?
Heeyoung: The biggest challenge was the weather and location. This beautiful red plant was in full bloom in August. The temperature at that time went up to 100 degrees in the prairie. The hot and humid prairie was heaven for the bugs and insects. They literally tried to eat me up alive. When we have hot and humid weather in Chicago land, usually sudden showers follow. You can imagine what happened to me with my big sketch pad. Another challenge was the plant itself. It had a very complicated structure with multiple flower stalks branched out at several nodes. And it’s hairy and sticky. That is how it got its common name; the sticky hair catches flies. When I tried to start drawing, the composition didn’t come to me. After several days’ trial, I still could not get it started. So I changed my strategy. Forget the composition! Study parts first, and then work with the whole image! For many days afterwards, I did detailed drawings of petals, flowers, and leaves to make myself familiar with the plant structure and shape. Finally when I felt I got to know the plant, I could compose the image on paper with confidence. It took 2 weeks to get the composition I liked. At the end of the year, I proudly showed my finished painting to my mentor. He gave me wonderful compliments, but very cautiously advised me to see some other photos, as he believed the red on the painting was not intense enough. I could not believe that, because I worked first-hand with the plant right in the habitat for so long and so hard. Without having my signature on that painting, I put it in my flat file and waited one year to see the color again with my bare eyes. The following spring, I made regular visits to check the whole life cycle of the plant. What I found out in the second year was very simple. My observation in the first year started too late. I missed the very early bud which had more orange and the brightest red in freshly bloomed flowers. That was the biggest lesson I keep in mind ever since. I feel like I learned everything about botanical drawing and watercolor, and the way I should approach my subjects, in this one project.
NOTE: Heeyoung’s painting of the Royal Catchfly is the signature image for the upcoming meeting of the American Society of Botanical Artists. This year, botanical artists from all over the world will travel to Illinois to attend this annual meeting.
Since it is not always possible to document a plant’s life cycle in one season, I assume you must have paintings on hold. How many drawings or paintings do you have in-progress at any given time?
Heeyoung:
Right now, 58 drawings and paintings are in progress.
Early spring flowers are very difficult to finish up as a serious painting. They bloom very early when the weather is still too severe for me to sit hours in the woods. Quite often we have snow which damages the fragile spring flowers, or shorten their blooming time. And too many flowers bloom all together, which makes me feel just hurried, but not doing a lot. So I have a lot of drawings started, but never have enough time to color them.
Mid-summer plants are also challenges. I have to stop going to the woods when it is too hot and too buggy and ticks are all around. When you find 7 ticks from your hair, you say, “Oh My God! Let’s stop!”
I am thrilled, though, thinking of the day when I finish all of them.
One of the things I admire about your paintings, for example the Green Dragon (Image 8) and the Cyclamen (Image 18), is that a plant’s full features comes through loud and clear. So much so, that this fullness is more striking in your paintings than on the plant itself. How do you encourage your students to see their subjects in three dimensions? How do you teach them to see volume?
Heeyoung:
When you have flat paper in front of you and start to draw something on it, you would naturally spread the objects on that flat surface. From my experience, thinking of volume and three-dimensionality in painting process is the hardest thing to achieve. I should admit that there are people who just never get it no matter what they are told.
In order to break ‘flattened’ vision, I constantly remind my students of the very simple fact that their model specimens are alive in space, not flattened on a wall or copy machine.
One good way to see this is by turning specimens around and actually seeing distance between the leaf in the foreground and stem, and another leaf behind the stem. I have them measure the distance to make it more tangible. And I ask constantly if they’ve really seen the distance in their drawings.
Doing this in the drawing stage is critical, because it cannot be corrected once coloring starts. We can achieve the appearance of volume by showing correct perspective and by differentiating size and color intensity. We can also leave some parts in the background less detailed than the elements in the foreground to make the entire painting look three dimensional.
I know botanical artists are obsessed with details. In some juried exhibitions “equal level of finish” is one of the judging criteria. However, you are the artist! You can do whatever you want to make your painting look better.