BATON ROUGE, LA.- On March 1st the Louisiana Art & Science Museum opened its exhibition Artistry and Accuracy: Botanical Illustrations by Margaret Stones in the Catwalk Gallery. The botanical illustrations of Australian-born Margaret Stones (1920—2018), who is one of the world’s most celebrated botanical artists, are a seamless combination of art and science. The artist’s drawings document Louisiana’s plants and flowers with accurate scientific detail while also artistically and uniquely capturing the flora’s intricate beauty.

Dr. Gresdna Doty, Louisiana State University (LSU) Professor of Theatre, suggested that LSU Chancellor Dr. Paul Murrill commission Margaret Stones to create six watercolor drawings commemorating the bicentennial of America and the fiftieth anniversary of LSU’s Baton Rouge campus in 1976. This illustrated study was so well received by the LSU community that it eventually expanded to become a project later known as the Native Flora of Louisiana Collection. The collection grew over the next twenty-three years into 224 watercolor drawings, becoming one of the most scientifically significant artistic recordings since John James Audubon published The Birds of America in 1838, and is housed in the LSU Libraries Special Collections Hill Memorial Library.

LASM is pleased to pair the Margaret Stones exhibition with Wild Bees, a series of photographs by Paula Sharp, writer photojournalist, and Ross Eatman, veteran nature photographer, that will be on display in the Colonnade Gallery until May 7th. Wild Bees follows a project that the two began in 2016 and documents the unique distinctive ecosystem in which Sharp and Eatman traced the habits and activities of wild bees. Their study follows the travel of these unique pollinators as they move between agricultural plants and woodland nests and flora.

Wild Bees is designed to inspire nature-lovers who prefer to observe rather than collect bees. “Margaret Stones’ botanical drawings seemed like a natural connection to the wild bees,” states Curator and Public Programs Manager, Tracey Barhorst. “Bees and flowering plants have a mutualistic relationship; in other words, each has something that greatly benefits the other. Sharp and Eatman’s photographs highlight the beauty of Stones’ pristine illustrations connecting art and science across different mediums.”

Margaret Stones’ work during her time in Louisiana is considered an extraordinary record of the state’s plant life. Referring to her time in Louisiana as “the ten happiest years of my life,” Stones was clearly charmed by the state and even called it “my Louisiana.” Insisting on only working from live specimens, Stones made regular trips to Baton Rouge over the years, collecting specimens with locals and creating many enduring friendships including that of Dr. Gresdna Doty.

In 1986, Stones was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from LSU, and in 1991, her drawings were published in a book titled Flora of Louisiana. Stones left a great legacy documenting the beloved flora of Louisiana, especially some rare and endangered plants that had never been illustrated before. In 2018, the entire collection was republished in a limited-edition folio titled Native Flora of Louisiana. Twelve of the over 200 illustrations were offered as prints in a limited-edition series. The Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s collection includes all twelve of these prints.