About the artist

Sheila Mannes-Abbott FLS FSBA

Education: Ealing School of Art (scholarship awarded at the age of 13 for a portfolio of flowers in watercolour)

Career:

  • Lettering Artist
  • Freelance botanical painter
  • Lecturer in botanical painting and design, Brunel University
  • Instructor in Botanical Art – short courses for:
  • Berkshire College of Agriculture
  • Countryside Education Centre, Beaulieu
  • Dorset Wildlife Trust – Kingcombe Centre
  • Museum of Garden History, Lambeth Palace
  • Reading Borough Council

Medium: Water colour

Group Exhibitions:

  • Mall galleries
  • Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Pittsburgh U.S.A.
  • Royal Academy London
  • Royal Horticultural Society London
  • Royal Watercolour Society London
  • Shirley Sherwood Gallery – Kew
  • Society of Botanical Artists
  • Tryon Gallery
  • Westminster Gallery
  • One-Person Exhibitions:
  • Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames
  • Furneaux Gallery, Wimbledon
  • Noel Gregory Gallery, Farnham Common
  • Reading Fine Art Gallery
  • Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Collections:

  • Berkshire County Council
  • Dr Shirley Sherwood
  • Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Pittsburgh U.S.A.
  • Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Archives
  • Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library
  • Numerous private collections, worldwide

Honours/Awards:

  • Fellow of The Linnaen Society: 2000
  • Founder Member Society of Botanical Artists: 1986
  • R.H.S. Grenfell Silver Gilt Medals: 1974, 1978
  • R.H.S. Gold Medals: 1997, 1999, 2010
  • S.B.A. Medalife Award: 1990
  • S.B.A. Joyce Cuming Award for Botanical Excellence: 1998

Work reproduced In:

  • Mannes-Abbott, Sheila and Phil Drabble. 1981 “Four Seasons”
  • Asser, Michael ed. “The Royal County”- Silver Jubilee H.M. Queen Elizabeth II
  • “Contemporary Botanical Masterworks” – A Passion for Plants, Shirley Sherwood
  • “Arte y Botanica”, – Selección de Ilustraciones The S.B.A.,Marta Chirino – Margaret Stevens