Stellenbosch Flora Festival
7-15 October 2023 during the US TOYOTA WOORDFEES
Book your R60 daypass at the Woordfees website or cashless payment at the gate:
Daily workshops are booked separately and include a day pass
The Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden (SUBG) is celebrating its centenary year with a week long programme of events: a major botanical art exhibition , daily yoga sessions, tours, a floral art festival, and music in the garden.
What you get for your R60 day pass:
Rare plant vendors daily with twenty vendors over the weekends | Food and wine vendors | Botanical Gin tastings | Botanical Art Exhibition by SA's top botanical artists and illustrators | Contemporary Art Exhibition | Strijdom van der Merwe Landscape art installation | The Botanical Garden Gift Shop | Katjiepiering Restaurant serving the best cake and coffee and meals.
Every day tours and sessions
09:00 - 10:00 Daily Yoga or Pilates session
10:00 -11:00 Curator's botanical garden tour
12:00 - 12:45 Guided garden tour
12:00 - 14:00 Lunch Time music at the Lily Ponds (picnic baskets available).
14:00 - 15:00 Guided garden tour
Botanical art exhibition talks and demonstrations
Every day 8:30 - 5:30 - Botanical Art Exhibition in the SUBG laboratory and office building
Sunday 8th October 12:00 - Art Curator Karen Stewart’s Walk About
Sunday 8th October 11:00-13:00 - Sally Sage Botanical Art Demo
Wednesday 11th October 12:00 - Vicki Thomas Botancial Artist’s Walkabout
Friday 13th October 12:00 - Art Curator’s Walk About
Daily workshops
Saturday 7 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| FLOWER CROWN WORKSHOP + GIN TASTING
| Bloeme | Floral Artistry by Anja
| R 350 BOOK NOW
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Sunday 8 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| PLANT PROPAGATION WORKSHOP | Cherise Viljoen, Master Horticulturist
| R 300 BOOK NOW
NB Quicket booking link shows as Sunday 7th - it is actually Sunday 8th !
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Monday 9 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| ART OF BONSAI WORKSHOP
| Russ Smal, SUBG Bonsai
| R 350 BOOK NOW
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Tuesday 10 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| FLOWER CROWN WORKSHOP + GIN TASTING | Bloeme | Floral Artistry by Anja
| R 350 BOOK NOW
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Tuesday 10 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| PLANT PROPAGATION WORKSHOP
| Cherise Viljoen, Master Horticulturist
| R 300 BOOK NOW
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| Wednesday 11 October 2023 10:30 - 13:30 | MONODRUK MET PLANTMATERIAAL | Hermien van der Merwe
| R 900 BOOK NOW
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Thursday 12 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| CYANOTYPE PRINTING WITH PLANTS
| Prof Leanne Dreyer
| R 300 BOOK NOW
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Friday 13 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| ART OF BONSAI WORKSHOP
| Russ Smal, SUBG Bonsai
| R 350 BOOK NOW
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Saturday 14 October 2023
10:00 - 13:00
| BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION: HOW TO DRAW A LEAF
| Martine Robinson
| R 450 BOOK NOW
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Flower Crown Workshop + Gin Tasting
Enjoy the process of making a fresh flower crown. Anja from Bloeme will demonstrate how to create a flower crown with a variety of flowers and foliage textures, and give you freedom to be creative. Have fun as you play with nature and connect with friends. Take photos with your beautiful end-products afterwards and make lasting memories in this unique workshop setting!
Cost: R350 will include: day pass to the SU Botanical Garden | A variety of of flowers to choose from | A prepared flower crown base and wiring | Gin tasting
Time: 10:00- 13:00 Dates: Saturday 7 October and Tuesday 10 October 2023 Limited to 25 pax per session
Cyanotype printing (Sun printing) Workshop with prof Leanne Dreyer
In this workshop we will play with cyanotype printing (also known as sun prints), one of the oldest photographic printing methods, that has gained popularity as an interesting art form in recent years.
We will work with sheets of cardboard that has been painted with a mixture of sun-sensitive chemicals. A variety of interesting dried leaves, twirly stems, feathers and other nature-inspired objects will be made available for making your very own prints. You are also welcome to bring own objects along – the only pre-requisites are that they should be dry, relatively thin, and fit onto an A4 sized sheet of paper.)
We will arrange our objects onto the painted sheets in an interesting way, cover them with glass / Perspex covers to hold the objects in place, and then expose our artworks to sunlight. Ultra-violet rays will react with the print during the short exposure time, whereafter we will wash our prints, and witness the most amazing hues of blue emerging on the unmasked background, while portions of our pictures covered by out biological objects will remain white.
During subsequent rounds of printing, we will add salt and diverse other substances to our prints to explore the interesting special effects can be created in this way.
All levels are welcome. This workshop is designed for those with no prior knowledge of using cyanotype.
Cost R300 will include: day pass to the SU Botanical Garden | Source plants for printing, interesting dried leaves, twirly stems, feathers and other nature-inspired objects | Glass/Perspex covers | All cyanotype chemicals and materials are included
Time: 10:00- 13:00 Dates: Thursday 12 October
Propagation Workshop with Master Horticulturist Cherise Viljoen
Join in to learn something new or add to your knowledge of growing indoor and herbaceous plants from leaf & stem cuttings while best practice methods, tricks and tips are being shared. To keep you propagating you’ll take home a small propagation kit of essential items, along with a tray of cuttings you’ve will made yourself to watch them root and grow. Bring any plants from home to have a personal demonstration of how best to propagate that plant. Ages 10 upward. No previous experience required.
Cost R300 will include: day pass to the SU Botanical Garden | Small propagation kit | Plants and cuttings trays | Media and materials
Time: 10:00- 13:00 Dates: Sunday 7 October and Tuesday 10 October 2023
The Art of Bonsai with Russ Smal
Intrigued by the ancient art of Bonsai? Join us for an afternoon of live demonstrations on how to design, shape and wire a tree. Instruction from our Bonsai Specialist, Russ Smal, will include plant and pot selection, basic styling techniques, and aftercare, so you will know how to care for and admire your Bonsai for years to come. The workshop is suitable for beginners or for people who have some experience growing bonsai.
Our Workshops are held in the Stellenbosch Botanical Garden where you can stroll under the trees, enjoy the market vendors, gift shop, restaurant and have a coffee/drink before the workshop starts - doing something fun and creative!
Cost R350 will include: Entrance to the Botanical Garden | 2- 3 hour workshop | Use of tools | Guidebook | Introduction to Designing, Shaping & Wiring
Time: 10:00- 13:00 Dates: Monday 9 October and Friday 13 October 2023
Plantmateriaal Monodruk met Hermien van der Merwe
By dié werksessie deur die fynbos kunstenaar, Hermien van der Merwe, werk elke deelnemer op ’n tuisgemaakte gelliplaat om mooi, tekstuurryke kunsmonodrukke op papier te maak. Van plante, lap, kant, tou tot tydskrifte en meer word in die drukkersink geplaas om ’n monodruk van die tekstuur op die gelliplaat te maak. Daar word hoofsaaklik op vorm, kleur en komposisie gefokus om die beste produk te skep. Geen vorige ondervinding is nodig nie. Elke deelnemer gaan huis toe met ’n klein versameling pragtige, oorspronklike kunswerke. Alle kunsmateriale en gereedskap is ingesluit by die kaartjieprys.
At this workshop led by fynbos artist, Hermien van der Merwe, each participant will work on a homemade gelli plate to create beautiful, textured art monoprints on paper. Items such as plants, cloth, lace, rope, magazines and much more are placed in the printing ink to create a monoprint of the texture on the gelli plate. The focus is primarily on using shape, colour and composition to create the best product. No previous experience is necessary. Each participant will go home with a small collection of beautiful, original works of art! All art materials and tools are included in the ticket price.
The Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden (SUBG) is celebrating their 100th year anniversary. As part of the centenary celebrations, we will host a weeklong programme of events – from daily yoga sessions, tours, arts and plant workshops and a special botanical art festival.
Botanical Art Exhibition
Specialist curator Karen Stewart has sourced an incredible selection of works by South Africa's leading botanical artists and illustrators. Many of the works are beautiful threatened or highly local species from the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden collections. All works will be on sale.
Contemporary Art Exhibition: Fynbos in the Garden
Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden: Old Conservatorium, Main Hall (next to the Katjiepiering restaurant)
Oil Painting and Printmaking
Hermien van der Merwe![]()
Living at the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, Hermien is embraced by inspiration for her work. She regularly walks along the nearby mountain paths in the Table Mountain Nature Reserve, absorbing her surroundings with all her senses. It’s in this walking, seeing, touching, breathing in… that Hermien observes the interaction between fire, drought, and rain on Cape fynbos. And it’s in her brush strokes, paint drips, and colourful markings that she narrates this story. Working predominantly with oil paint, Hermien hopes to raise awareness for fynbos and preserve it for future generations – preferably as a living, adaptable biome but also immortalized in art.
https://www.hermien-art.co.za/
Joshua Miles
Joshua spent many years painting with oils on canvas, but his passion has always been with reduction block printmaking. His influences in printmaking started at a young age watching his aunt Elsa Miles, artist and art historian, doing woodcuts and then later studying under Cecil Scotness at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Joshua is a landscape artist and is inspired by the play of light on the landscape which leads him to explore his local areas. He is always hunting for qualities flight that evoke emotion, this is often the softer light that brings out the in-between tones and greys most would miss. He is also inspired by the impressionist’s style of loose mark making and by the Japanese tradition of printmaking both of which are evident in his work.
https://joshuamiles.art/
Exhibitor: Botancial designs & fabric – watercolours
Ceramics
Annelie Janse van Rensburg
Annelie’s work draws inspiration from nature, which is evident in the delicate floral designs of her ceramic pieces.
She uses different hand building techniques to showcase the malleable quality of clay as well as the marks she leaves. Her vessels, plates and platters are never completely covered in white slip as she prefers to celebrate clay as a canvas.
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com › annelie_ceramics
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The first Stellenbosch Flora Festival + SUBG are celebrating our 101st birthday
The past few years has seen this garden transformed into a wealth of unique, local conservation stories. Wander through and find threatened plants from the surrounding landscape and all over the world. The legacy includes a Welwitchia that was planted in 1924 as one of the original teaching displays, to new threatened lowland habitat displays, and the living Oxalis collection - the largest and best curated collection in the world.
Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden (SUBG) - the oldest academic botanical garden in South Africa - celebrates its centenary this year with a week long programme of events during Woordfees. Established in 1922, you will find this unique botanical garden of 1,7 ha in the centre of Stellenbosch on the corner of Neethling Street. The location is part of the fabric of our teaching and conservation work, in the middle of the Cape Floristic Region's globally significant botanical diversity, and the highly threatened lowland ecosystems of the wine-growing regions.
SUBG is an academic garden - a teaching garden - substantially supported and funded by Stellenbosch University resources and stakeholders, with the enormous potential to support aligned academic work and leverage academic expertise. At its core, SUBG works for conservation, education, and academic support to the University. Since registering as a BGCI Conservation Practitioner Garden in 2018, SUBG has hugely expanded of teaching and restoration collections by 1,500 species. Nearly 300 of these are conservation grade collections of critically threatened plants, a key buffer against outright extinction.
All proceeds from the Stellenbosch Flora Festival support the Stellenbosch University Garden conservation, education and research support work, while celebrating and showcasing the botanical garden and our work. We're looking forward to seeing you here in a couple of weeks!
