The Botanical Series: Photographs by Gerald Lang and Jennifer Anne Tucker

June 8 – August 17, 2013

For centuries, the botanical art tradition has combined science and art in drawings and prints that illustrate and identify plant species in an aesthetically pleasing manner.  The Botanical Series presents the collaborative work of Gerald Lang and Jennifer Anne Tucker who offer a contemporary re-thinking of the traditional documentation of plants.  Tucker's extensive research and practice as an herbalist combines with Lang's digital processing skills to create extraordinary images made using a scanner and digital printer.  Tucker gathers the plant and lays it on a scanner bed in a way that mirrors the plant in nature, gently coaxing leaves and petals into a natural gesture that expresses the unique geometry of the plant.  Lang scans and prints the image on archival papers using pigmented inks.  The results are images of remarkable clarity and beauty, and often considered by viewers to be imbued with the essence or spirit of the plant.

Tucker received her M.F.A. in Photography from Penn State University.  She has been a practicing herbalist and flower essence practitioner for over thirty-five years.  Tucker teaches herbal studies workshops throughout Pennsylvania.

Lang is Professor Emeritus of Art and Integrative Arts at Penn State University.  He founded The Digital Photography Studio in the College of Arts and Architecture and is an Apple Distinguished Educator.

Funded in part by UW Art Museum Gala Funds and the Wyoming Arts Council through the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts

Images: 

Left: Gerald Lang and Jennifer Anne Tucker, Echinacea Cone, Echinacea purpurea, 2011, archival pigment ink digital print, 19.4 x 20 inches, lent by the artists

Right: Gerald Lang and Jennifer Anne Tucker, Toadflax Linaria vulgaris, 2005, archival pigment ink digital print, 19.96 x 20 inches, lent by the artists