Here in Kathmandu, we are meeting up with the artist Neera Joshi Pradhan, who has helped us coordinate and prepare our classes, and also with Dr Sangeeta Rajbhandary of Tribhuvan University, our botanical expert for our research field trips into the Kathmandu Valley.
This collaboration with the artistic and scientific communities in Kathmandu will greatly contribute to our overall mission to communicate and inspire through the universal language of art, and in doing so contribute to the Britain–Nepal 2016 celebrations.
This connection began at the very start of the nineteenth century with Dr Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, who trained in botany at RBGE, and continues to the present day with the publication of the Flora of Nepal (www.floraofnepal.org).
During our three-week visit to Kathmandu, we explored the wild to find the species to illustrate, with the invaluable guidance of Dr Sangeeta Rajbhandary of Tribhuvan University. Each artist illustrated three species native to Nepal, with one subject shared by all: Rhododendron arboreum. This beautiful tree bears deep red flowers and grows throughout the Himalayas, lending the landscape yet another dimension of beauty.
Between our fieldwork sessions, we organised a couple of short workshops with the help of the artist Neera Joshi Pradhan. It is always deeply rewarding as a teacher to meet plant enthusiasts from different cultures. Seeing so many Nepalese artists eager to work on their own flora was something truly special. One of our students was a monk who lives at an altitude of 4,000 metres in the Himalayas; she attended our workshop with the intention of learning to illustrate the alpine plants that grow around her home.
