Begonias grown for canvas show

THOUGH Begonia Festival has just passed, an upcoming exhibition is being held with the aim of keeping interest blooming for the flower species.

Taking place at the Robert Clark Horticultural Centre next weekend, the show called Inspired by Begonias will feature more than 40 works from members of the Ballarat Botanical Artist Group.

Convenor, Ro Bancroft said a central aim of the exhibition is to highlight the begonia’s diversity.

“The concept of it is very much to show the difference between begonias,” she said.

“They’re quite diverse. You have tuberous begonias which are extravagant flowers of red, orange, and yellow. Then you have non-tuberous begonias which have their tiny little flowers with huge leaves of all different colours.

“We’re trying to have them see there’s such a big difference coming from the same genus.”

Mediums range from watercolour to graphite, pencil sketches, and scraperboard works.

The event will mark the group’s second arts show since forming about 10 years, following on from their 2022 exhibition around Ballarat and surround’s rare endangered plants.

Bancroft said the featured works will be the result of about 12 months of works between the show’s 10 artists.

“Some of the artwork takes 10 to 20 hours each because it’s a very specialised skill,” she said.

“We’re probably thinking we’ll have another one of these in another 18 months around a different theme which will be within the botanical gardens.

“This exhibition is kind of about bringing awareness around what botanical art is. It’s quite different from flower painting, to show viewers parts of a plant they might otherwise miss.”

Inspired by Begonias will be on show on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 March from 10am to 4pm.