What is the difference between botanical art and botanical illustration?
Well, that is the big question in this genre, isn’t it! In my mind, illustration is created to “illustrate” – text, an exhibit, posters, etc. It illuminates text and other verbiage in a way that makes words more fully realized. It gives a perfect visual for the perfect word. Illustration is an art form, as powerful as fine art, in particular since it is generally a significant collaboration with another creator. Illustration might be limited in expressive form by the job it has to do. Illustration must be accurate as to the science of the specimen to be considered botanical illustration. I tend to think of art as that which is created from the artist’s own inner driver, not working within someone else’s confines – not needing to illuminate words. It can be more refined, innovative and personal than illustration, but that’s not always true. Fine art, in the botanical world, also needs to meet the demands of science as to anatomy, scale, and completeness of information of a given subject
