Re-readers of The Tartan or those with an exceptional memory for prior issues will know that I am a big-time fan of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation on Hunt Library’s fifth floor. For the uninitiated: Yes, there is a fully wood-paneled art gallery a couple of floors above your study spot in Hunt which displays about one exhibition per semester of scientific paintings and drawings of all sorts of plantlife from orchids to onions. Yes, it also has a replica living room from a Shadyside mansion up there!
This semester, the folks at the Institute are displaying the works of British expat and award-winning artist Derek Norman. Norman’s subject matter takes a more localized focus than past Institute shows, predominantly featuring the flowers and grasses around his former home in the greater Chicago area.
This necessitates a greater focus on bringing the artist into the conversation. While the Institute’s recurring Internationals are usually purely focused on the illustrations, Norman is just as much of a focus as his work. Several artworks on display are scattered among the artist’s notes and musings as if they were pages from his diary. “On a magnificent Sunday drawn in the garden — a great abundance of wild garlic this year especially in the side yard,” Norman writes under a grass study, “I have left the grass uncut because they look so beautiful.” Sketches are hung alongside each other to emphasize Norman’s process, and the process of botanical illustration as a whole.
There are several little exciting details in Norman’s work that you don’t typically get to see in art like his: the corners of a final drawing are used to scribble away any excess ink on a nib, the aforementioned journal notes, and small sections cut out of a piece. Even occasional moments where Norman is using his pen in a more expressive way than normal pop-up.
Norman’s work and this show are best summed up in his own words. His goal is, as mentioned on a plaque, “to communicate to the larger public audience the uncommon perfection of a common wildflower.”
“Uncommon Perfection: Illustrations by Derek Norman” is on view at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation until May 9.
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