Botanical Art Studentships

Applications have closed for 2024

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) is seeking motivated and artistically talented individuals for two paid studentships in scientific botanical illustration.

These studentships are generously funded by the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation (USA) and Royal Botanic Gardens Foundation. You will be in the third or fourth year of a Visual Arts degree at an Australian institution, have a relevant portfolio demonstrating your skills, and ideally a demonstrable interest in plant or fungal form and illustration.

Candidates taking scientific or botanical illustration courses will also be considered provided an appropriate portfolio of work is available.

Two studentships are available this year and these will be awarded for an agreed nine-week period between November 2024 and January 2025.

The students will work on separate projects with our team of botanists and curation staff to produce scientifically accurate pen and ink line drawings of specimens in Victoria’s State Botanical Collection, held within the National Herbarium of Victoria at RBGV's Melbourne Gardens.

The illustrations produced as part of this studentship are envisaged to accompany the species entries and keys to species featured in VicFlora.

The work calls for meticulous attention to detail and highly developed artistic skills to create black and white illustrations that are technically accurate, aesthetically pleasing and, critically, usable for identification. For many species it may be necessary to work exclusively from herborised (dried and pressed) material, sometimes requiring the illustration of microscopic details acquired through dissection beneath a microscope.

The incumbent will essentially translate their observations into an effective display format reproducible at different sizes.

Key accountabilities:

• Produce accurate, diagnostic line drawings of specimens using pen and ink
• Work closely with botanists or mycologists to understand the relevant features of the subject material required for accurate identification
• Follow general taxonomic guidelines for botanical or fungal illustration
• Develop and implement a feasible work plan to ensure a schedule of delivery
• Produce a portfolio of work that can be made publicly available at the end of the studentship

Key Selection Criteria:

• It is preferable that the applicant be enrolled in a degree program in botanical illustration, illustrative art, or a directly related field
• Strong drawing skills demonstrated by a relevant portfolio of works, with strong pen and ink skills (see here for examples of appropriate style) prioritised 
• Demonstrable knowledge of taxonomic terms, botanical anatomy and morphology, and an awareness of botanical nomenclature
• Sound knowledge of design and display techniques
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Proficiency in computer software for image editing and layout
• A good understanding of printing and graphic technology (relating to reproducibility of work prepared) desirable
• Effective communication skills

Suggested projects

Illustration of Victoria’s leafy liverworts (Jungermanniales and Porellales): The leafy liverworts are a largely overlooked group of small plants represented by over 160 species in Victoria. Identification in this group of plants is heavily reliant on morphological variation of their small leaves and, in some cases, branching pattern. However, important information for species identification such as the three-dimensional arrangement and structure of the leaves and branches is often difficult to capture in focus with photography. Illustrations provide a solution to overcoming these difficulties and the successful candidate will aim to produce illustrations of up to 30 Victorian species of liverwort. Illustrations for most species will comprise a few ‘lateral’ leaves and any accompanying smaller ‘underleaves’. For a few species a section of stem with some branches and leaves will be illustrated and one species will be chosen for a more thorough illustration that includes all important features of the plant. Illustrations will be made from herbarium specimens with the aid of microscopes and technical assistance will be provided by a RBGV Botanist. Illustrations will be used on the RBGV’s flora website, VicFlora.

Illustration of macrofungi: The term macrofungus is used for a variety of fungi that produce readily visible sporing bodies, such as mushrooms, puffballs, coral fungi and bracket fungi. Interactive keys have proved valuable in aiding identification of macrofungi and a key to genera of mushrooms, FunKey - Key to Agarics, has been developed on the LUCID platform. Diagrams of the character states of each character are an essential part of interactive keys. Numerous illustrations of key features of mushrooms have already been prepared, but the expansion of FunKey to cover all macrofungi requires illustrations of further macro- and microscopic features. Illustrations will be made from fungarium specimens with the aid of dissecting and compound microscopes under the guidance of RBGV Mycologists. Illustrations will be used on the RBGV’s fungi website, VicFunga.

Illustration of elusive Victorian moss species: Victoria has around 410 species of moss, all of which have recently been added to the online flora, VicFlora. Part of this major update has been to add photographs of moss species, including their overall habit in the field, to aid identification. This is an ongoing process and is likely to be achieved for most species. However, some moss species have only been collected in Victoria from single sites over 50 years ago that have since undergone significant alteration or suffered from disturbance. Consequently, it is likely that these species may now be extinct in Victoria, making obtaining photographs from living plants in Victoria no longer possible. To help document these species in the flora, illustrations of the habit and all the important features of up to six of these species will be completed. Illustrations will be made from a combination of the old herbarium specimens with the aid of microscopes and online images of the species from outside of Victoria. Technical assistance will be provided by a RBGV Botanist.

With clear justification, candidates may also propose alternative projects of personal interest for RBGV consideration, but only providing the outcomes contribute meaningfully to RBGV's existing plant identifications provisions (see e.g., keys to species on VicFlora).

To apply

Applications should be submitted in the form of a single, self-contained PDF file suitable for offline review and emailed to Dr Alastair Robinson, Manager Biodiversity Services, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, via alastair.robinson@rbg.vic.gov.au, by 04 October 2024.

Applications must include:

• a curriculum vitae (including university transcript) with two named referees;
• a short cover letter (max. 500 words) explaining how the applicant would benefit from the studentship, would contribute to identification provisions at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, and provide an indication of their preferred project(s) stating the reasons for their project preference; and 
• a portfolio sample of no more than 5 relevant illustrations.

Studentships take place on site at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria's Melbourne Gardens, thus applicants must reside within commutable distance of the Gardens for the period in question. All studentship holders are expected to hold a valid Working With Children check by the time they commence their studentship.

Previous studentships have attracted a diverse range of skilled applicants. Interviews are allocated competitively to a very limited number of applicants based on their submissions; we necessarily prioritise those who demonstrate both the strongest pen and ink skills and meet the submission criteria. Our ability to provide individual feedback to unsuccessful candidates is limited.