Botanical Artist & Illustrator, Lara Call Gastinger, to Speak at Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally

Amid winter’s decaying leaves, forgotten acorns, and the emerging buds of spring, one might also find pens, journals, and watercolors . . . in the capable hands of Lara Call Gastinger, our Featured Speaker for the 45th Annual Spring Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally.

LARA CALL GASTINGER is a botanical artist and illustrator in Charlottesville, Virginia.  She was the chief illustrator for the Flora of Virginia Project after she received her master’s degree from Virginia Tech in Plant Ecology. She has been awarded two gold medals (2018, 2007) at the Royal Horticultural Society garden show in London and her work has been in several ASBA traveling exhibits and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Her work can be followed at: www.instagram.com/laragastinger. The subjects of her art come from the natural world and reveal detailed evidence of change, decay, and processes that occur in nature. She strives to make a plant portrait in such a way that it reveals its character and uniqueness. Her focus is on the small details in nature, down to the small venations in leaves, which hopefully inspires others to look deeper and pause a bit longer.

This May, attendees of the Spring Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally will have a chance to meet Lara during her presentation, Documenting Nature as a Botanical Artist. Join Lara as she details her experiences as a botanical artist, illustrator, and documenter of nature. She will talk about her work in the Flora of Virginia, her perpetual journals, and detailed botanical watercolors. After her talk, you will be inspired to look more closely at nature, to be curious, and to start your own journal.

To attend Lara’s presentation at the Spring Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally on May 10, 2019, please register online at: https://blueridgediscoverycenter.org/mrnr

To learn more about Lara’s work, visit her website: https://www.laracallgastinger.com/