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BOTANICA AND THE CAYLX EXHIBITIONS - APRIL 2025
After a drizzly night, the next day turned to sunny Autumn as the group of about 20 gathered for coffee shop in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, on Tuesday 15th April 2025.
Margaret Besley headed a stroll to the new Garden Gallery on Mrs Macquarie Road to view the Botanica: Art and Disguise of Deception exhibition that explores the mimicry, camouflage and trickery that plants use to survive and thrive. The drawings, paintings, linocuts, cyanotypes and photography were mostly in traditional botanical style, with meticulous attention to detail and scientific accuracy. It can take a botanical artist from 200-500 hours of precise and painstaking work to create one picture.
Red Tea Tree by Angela Lober
We popped into the Growing Friends Nursery where volunteers grow and nurture rare and unusual plants that are for sale throughout the year.
The Alchemy of a Rainforest at the Calyx was next. Amidst a lush, layered canopy, we experienced the intricate beauty and complexity of the rainforest. Alchemy of a Rainforest is more than an exhibition; it's an immersive journey that envelops you in the vibrant, living essence of one of the Earth's most valuable ecosystems. Throughout the rainforest are crafted garden sculptures make from repurposed plastic waste depicting seeds, flowers, branches, fungi, and butterflies, highlighting the rainforest’s role as an ecological powerhouse that sustains diverse life forms.
Then it was time to head home after an educational and fun day, not to be missed.
