Press Release: Orient-Express Hotels
September 15, 2000
NEW YORK, NY -- As a result of their growing popularity, Orient-Express Hotels has unveiled plans to add two additional
classes to next year's program of botanical and flower painting master classes. Eight classes will offer guests
at Orient-Express properties throughout the world an opportunity to try their hand at the gracious art of botanical
and flower painting under the tutelage of master painters in relaxed and inspired surroundings. Following the successful
class at Gametrackers safari camps in Botswana earlier this year, this remarkable travel experience will be repeated
again in 2001 with an opportunity to create a unique 'Safari Sketchbook' of personal drawings, paintings, thoughts
and observations.
The 2001 botanical and flower painting classes will be held at the following locations:
Each course has been designed with both beginners and accomplished artists in mind. Class sizes have been carefully
restricted to allow individual attention for each student. Students will engage in various aspects of botanical
or wildlife painting, and examples of botanical art will be discussed to build knowledge and appreciation. Each
day, students will draw a different subject chosen to illustrate basic techniques and to complement the practical
learning sessions led by the artists. There will also be visits to local museums, galleries, historic houses and
gardens.
Taught by four well known international painters -- Katie Lee, Jenny Phillips, Siriol Sherlock and Margaret Saul
-- the classes will offer students the opportunity to discover some of the secrets and uncover some of the myths
of this magical art form.
The subjects for each class will be as distinctive and varied as the hotels themselves and will include the exotic
plants of Australia; camellias in Charleston; South Africa's exuberant spring flowers; autumn fruits and foliage
in Venice, or the raw beauty and teaming wildlife of Botswana.
The Safari Sketchbook will be based around three luxury game viewing camps located in three very different eco-systems
in Botswana -- the desert, the delta and the flood plain - and will offer students the opportunity to view and
draw the flora, fauna and wildlife of the region. June is the dry season and students can expect to see herds of
elephant, zebra, lion, hippo, baboon, antelope and migratory birds as well as unusual plants and flowers.
The programs include accommodation, painting classes, all excursions and transportation including airport transfers,
some meals and beverages. Students are asked to supply their own art materials. Prices start from approximately
US$220 for a three-day non-residential course and US$2,500 for a five-day residential course, and will vary according
to the destination.
Dr. Shirley Sherwood, a pre-eminent collector of botanical art, has designed the Orient-Express Hotels Botanical
and Flower Painting courses. Her collected works include more than 400 paintings and drawings, representing 180
artists from 22 countries, including the UK, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, America, Canada, Russia and India. Many
of the artists featured in this collection are recorded in Dr. Sherwood's book, Contemporary Botanical Artists,
available in the UK from Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Her most recent acquisitions will be recorded in her new book,
to be published by Cassell plc in 2001, about the current renaissance of botanical art. Dr. Sherwood is a judge
on the Botanical Painting Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, London; a trustee of the Royal Botanical
Gardens Foundation, Kew, and an honorary trustee of the American Society of Botanical Artists.
SOURCE: Orient-Express Hotels