Lynne Uptin, Banksia integrifolia, Coastal Banksia, 2022. Watercolour on Fabriano watercolour paper 640gsm, framed, 119 x 96cm. Courtesy: the artist and Bett Gallery, Hobart. 

Whilst Lynne Uptin strives for botanical accuracy by painting from nature, she seeks to enliven traditional botanical art through links to the discovery and science of Tasmanian plants.

The Golden Age of Botanical Art in the early years of the 19th century coincided with the exploration of Australia by European plant collectors, botanists and artists. Joseph Banks arrived in Botany Bay on The Endeavour on 28 April 1770 as a wealthy botanical explorer. Amongst those that he and his team of botanists and artists discovered were four plants new to them which would later form a genus that would bear his name – Banksia. The new taxonomic genus Banksia was described and named by Carolus Linnaeus the Younger in 1782.

Amongst Joseph Banks’ first Botany Bay collection were the four Banksia species which are the centrepieces Lynne has painted for this exhibition: B.serrata (Old man banksia); B.integrifolia (Coast Banksia), B.ericafolia (Heath-leaved Banksia) and B. robur (Swamp Banksia).

The type species Banksia serrata was well known to the Cadigal people who lived in the Sydney region prior to the arrival of Europeans, who called it wiriyagan and collected its nectar. Banksia serrata was later made famous by Mae Gibbs in 1916 as she pictured The Big Bad Banksia Men.

All the Banksia species have their own character which Lynne seeks to portray in her painting.

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