SALT Beyoğlu's Winter Garden program tells story of a plant painter

“The most exciting thing about working with plants is to see that each plant is a completely different world and to feel like you are starting this job again with every new painting. To paint the plant in the proper color, you may need to mix paints that you have never used; and to convey its texture correctly, you may need to develop a variety of techniques. You are very likely to lose yourself in the complex details of plants. As one of those people, I have made lots of paintings and I continue to do so. In this time and geography where plant paintings are about to be forgotten, I am not alone on the way I go. There are many painters who treat plants with passion and devotion," Işık Güner says.

SALT's Winter Garden programs continue with a speech by plant painter Işık Güner. Güner will talk about what plant painting is, how it is performed and the changes it has gone through from past to present at SALT Beyoğlu's fourth floor on Nov. 9 at 11 a.m. She will touch on the exciting aspects of this production, as well as its challenges and requirements, in her journey from Turkey’s crocus to Chile’s lapageria. She will also explain the importance of the creation of a collection of plant illustrations for scientific works and archive studies in light of “The Illustrated Flora of Turkey," the third volume she is preparing for.

The speech, open to anyone, will be delivered in Turkish. The speeches and workshops in the Winter Garden on the fourth floor of SALT Beyoğlu, which is surrounded by potted plants and made up of 80 square meters of compacted soil, are prepared with the contribution of architect Aslıhan Demirtaş from KHORA Office, who is the designer of the space.

Born in 1983, Işık Güner graduated as an engineer from Marmara University in 2006. Then she started working as a full-time plant painter. She created 40 illustrations for the book “Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile,” which was completed in seven years and published by the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh in 2015. Some of these works have been awarded significant prizes in various international exhibitions. Güner also participated in the conservation programs of “Project Nepal” (2015) and “The Beauty of Orchids” (2016) in China, and produced for the “2018 Transylvania Florilegium” which was prepared on behalf of Prince Charles. Her new book “Botanical Illustration From Life: A Visual Guide To Observing, Drawing And Painting Plants” (2019) was published in English, Spanish and French languages.

Currently, Güner is the art editor of “The Illustrated Flora of Turkey” project and teaches at the plant illustration course at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. She lives in Fırtına Valley.