The Artist Space Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the fourth Botanicals online Art Exhibition. Along with the selected artists, the jury selected award winners in the following art categories: painting, photography and sculpture. The show displayed a variety of artistic styles and mediums: acrylic, colored pencil, watercolor, oil on canvas, pen and ink, pastel, ceramics, cast bronze, photography and digital art. Out of all submissions received 79 artworks were selected to be included in the exhibition.
Best of Show
Chantal Bourque
Short Biography and Statement
My portraits of trees tell their stories and echo our own, in a sensitive dialogue between nature and humanity.” Born in the province of Quebec, Chantal Bourque grew up surrounded by forested landscapes that left a deep imprint on her imagination. Around the age of 12, she began painting, a medium that would become a cherished space for expression and creative freedom. She then pursued an academic career in visual arts before settling in Vaudreuil-Dorion. A few years later, she decided to return to her first love and devote herself fully to her current artistic practice: painting. The tree, now her favorite subject, has naturally found its place in her world. Having grown up in the countryside, wooded landscapes are an integral part of her childhood memories. For Chantal, the forest has always been synonymous with well-being, a mindset she also shares with her father. Indeed, working as a forestry technician, her father passed on his love for the forest to her, but above all taught her to respect it. Using various mixed media, Chantal realistically reproduces the texture and appearance of the tree trunks she paints. In most of her works, which she affectionately calls her “tree portraits,” small pieces of real bark are also incorporated. This technique, which creates bas-reliefs, serves as a tangible reminder of the fragile and precious connection between nature and humanity. The beauty that emanates from a tree and its surroundings is at the heart of her art. Drawing inspiration from her own photographs, Chantal invites the viewer to see trees from a different perspective, to see the story hidden behind each one. She creates connections between people and trees, giving rise to stories between them and the forest.
Painting Prize
Bert Liverance
Short Biography and Statement
Award-winning Canadian artist Bert Liverance creates larger-than-life floral paintings that balance scientific observation with expressive realism. A sculptor turned painter, he is known for achieving a striking sense of dimensionality through precise control of light, shadow, and form, combined with bold compositions and vibrant colour. His work has been recognized by organizations including the McMichael Canadian Art Gallery, the American Society of Botanical Artists, Botanical Artists of Canada, the Royal Botanical Gardens Orchid Society, and the Southern Ontario Orchid Society. He has also designed floral coins for the Royal Canadian Mint. Liverance’s paintings have been featured in publications, galleries, and juried exhibitions across North America, and are held in museum, embassy, and private collections internationally. He is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Drawing Prize
Melissa Angles
Short Biography and Statement
instagram.com/melissamanglesart
Melissa Angles has had a love of nature and details for her whole life. Her childhood was filled with hours of outdoor play where she studied the patterns in tree bark, felt the texture of her horse’s mane, and found four-leaf clovers. Colored pencil gives Melissa the ability to recreate all the details she loves to observe, and she is currently creating a collection of drawings focusing on the fruits and vegetables she picks out of her family’s garden.
Photography Prize
Richard Evans
Short Biography and Statement
My love for photographing dandelions began quietly, almost accidentally—drawn in by a plant most people overlook or rush to remove. Up close, the dandelion reveals itself as something extraordinary: a universe of geometry, filaments, and fragile engineering, perfectly designed yet fleeting. Through macro photography, I slow time down, exploring the moment just before a seed drifts away or light catches the delicate structure of the pappus like a whispered secret. Dandelions embody resilience and impermanence at once. They thrive where they’re least invited, yet disappear with a single breath of wind. Photographing them has become a meditation—an exercise in patience, precision, and attention. Focus stacking allows me to honor their complexity, layer by layer, revealing details the naked eye never fully sees. What began as curiosity has turned into reverence: a commitment to showing that beauty doesn’t need permission to exist. Sometimes it just needs to be seen and appreciated
Photography Prize
Brad Rhodes
Short Biography and Statement
Brad Rhodes (b. 1972) is a visual designer and mostly self-taught photographer, driven by curiosity—about people, places, things and the fleeting moments that define them. His photographic work moves between urban and natural spaces, seeking poetry in the ordinary. Whether capturing stark geometry or focused detail, his images aim to provoke reflection, inviting viewers to pause and reconsider the familiar through a different lens.
Winners