SALA in the Garden

Date posted: 03 July 2015

Keen to get in touch with your artistic side this August? Adelaide Botanic Garden is hosting a record six exhibitions as part of the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival in August, including an immersive cinema experience in the Bicentennial Conservatory. The botanically-themed exhibitions run the gamut from close-up photography to oil paintings to a photo workshop series and exhibition for students coinciding with National Science Week, while themed guided walks and eclectic Conservatory attractions round out a stacked August program.

Official Opening Afternoon: This will take place on the lawn north of Botanic Gardens Restaurant on Saturday, 1 August between 2pm and 4pm. The general public is welcome to attend to listen to opening speeches and view the individual exhibitions for the first time.

Plants to Pixels – July 22-24 (workshops), August 18-21 (exhibition)

Calling all young South Australians aged 5-18! You’re invited to submit a photograph, taken with a mobile device (photo or tablet), into the Plants to Pixels: Exposing Photosynthesis exhibition, coinciding with National Science Week. See your photos displayed in our Bicentennial Conservatory (August 18-21) as part of a SALA exhibition! Three 20-minute Pre-Exhibition Workshops – teaching students photography and editing skills – will be held for free for school groups on Wednesday-Friday (July 22-24, Week 1 – Term 3), with students encouraged to practice their new skills in the Garden afterwards!

Submit a photograph, register your class for a workshop or find out more.

Exhibition FREE to view, Bicentennial Conservatory (Tuesday, August 18 – Friday, August 21)

ATLAS – Friday, July 31 to Sunday, August 2

ATLAS is “an immersive cinema soundscape experience created by six artists – Aida Azin, Abby Howlett, Henry Walker, Naomi Keyte, Liam Somerville, Felicity Arts and Future Memory – within a planetary dome”!

FREE, Bicentennial Conservatory, Launch - Friday, July 31, 5:30pm (Future Memory Screening: 6pm); Saturday, August 1 - 11am, 2pm, 3pm & 6pm; Sunday, August 2 - 11am, 2pm, 3pm

Nebula Deluxe – Friday, July 31 and Saturday, August 1 (7:30pm)

Nebula Deluxe is an eclectic ticketed event, coinciding with our SALA exhibitions, held for the first time under a full moon in the Bicentennial Conservatory – “an all-inclusive music, theatre, dinner, drink and dance experience”, thanks to The Mill Adelaide and The Happy Motel!

Bookings and more information at ticketbooth.com.au.

Cost: $80, Bicentennial Conservatory

A Botanical Garden Year, by Asami Sakura

Asami began taking photos of flowers and plants at Adelaide Botanic Garden a few years ago, and the variety of beauty and change of growth each month affected her emotionally and passionately every time she captured an image. This exhibition is filled with her favourite images from her collection, displayed on authentic Japanese kimono material with bamboo hanging rods as a reference to her background.

FREE, daily, Simpson Kiosk

Beyond the Garden Gate, by Jenny Berends

Fuelled by the anticipation of finding “that something”, which is often overlooked when viewing scenery as a whole, Jenny’s photographic exhibition is a visual story of time spent within the landscape. Her images capture the intricacies of plant life that, en-masse, form vast and diverse scenery.

FREE, daily, North Lodge

Celebrating Botanical Art and Artists (guided walks)

Plants have forever been a dominant theme and subject in artworks around the globe and these guided walks, thanks to the Friends of the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide, tap into this rich history. See the plant in the Garden, appreciate the picture and learn about the artist.

Meet at Visitor Information Centre, Schomburgk Pavilion. Gold coin donation. Sundays in August, 11am.

Garden Vanities, by Nicola Semmens

Garden Vanities is a contemporary take on traditional still life painting themes of beauty, whimsy and decay. Gardens are a place where magic happens and stories are told that can transport us from our daily lives. Through her paintings, Nicola cajoles the viewer to take a visual and imagined adventure.

FREE, daily, Diggers Garden Shop

Splendour of Abundance, by Julia Townsend

Julia Townsend presents a series of oil paintings that explore the abundance of beauty within botanical subjects. The series is joyous and visually expressive with gestural brushstrokes that reflect a true pleasure in painting – a celebration of the incomparable beauty and awe within the natural world, reminding us of the importance of preserving the grace and harmony that surrounds and sustains us.