STORY BEHIND THE ART OF Claudia Campazzo

25th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Wave Hill

Danger

Echinopsis chiloensis

In 2020 I enrolled at Sadie Valeri Atelier (SVA) for online training in drawing and painting studio practices that were primarily taught from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. By early 2021 I had finished the graphite curriculum and missed doing botanical work, so I took a small break from the program to apply my newly acquired graphite skills to a botanical drawing.

Elaine Searle was my mentor, and after seeing the casts of classical sculpture I had drawn, she suggested I look at the work of Karl Blossfeldt. The zoomed-in, sculptural qualities of Blossfeldt’s photographs inspired me to look for a subject that would present similar characteristics as the casts I had drawn.

I drove to the University of California Berkeley Botanical Gardens where, in the Chilean section of the garden, I fell in love with a cactus. Echinopsis chiloensis is a common cactus in my native neighborhood in Santiago. However, I had never stopped to really look at it. It was a cloudy day, and soft light gently rolled over the undulations of the cactus, and I couldn’t help but see torsos and legs. It was perfect. I zoomed in and photographed it.

At home, I settled on a size that allowed me to show the plant’s voluptuousness interrupted by the harshness of the spines. It was meaningful to me to draw a plant native to my neighborhood at a time when I am reconnecting with my home country. The name of the drawing, “Danger,” was first suggested by Elaine, half in jest, I think. However, I thought it was a great name, descriptive not only of the subject, but of the time in which it was created. I hope to draw more Chilean plants in the next few years.

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Read more about this artist's work: 23rd Annual