Astrantia Snow in City Bloom. (Raleigh tenant)
Photos of Raleigh Tenent will be on display at City Bloom: Birmingham through October. The plant exhibition is a three mile long outdoor installation along the Rouge River Trail and is just one of many of their creative projects.
Botanist Laurie Tenent has a lifelong passion for the art of image capturing. Born in Birmingham, she attended Creative Studies College in Detroit and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography. Her work is featured in public and private art galleries around the world.
Her photos can be seen at City Bloom: Birmingham until October. This is a 3 mile outdoor installation along the Rouge River Trail through Booth Park, Quarton Lake, and Linden Park, and the plant display is just one of the tenant’s many creative projects. I’m going to be 60 soon, but I’m working on it.
“I love historical plants and Dutch paintings,” she says of two key factors that influenced her style. “You are really full and the background is very dark.”
Mackenzie O’Brien
Especially in Tenet’s botanical photography, flowers are colored on the same dark background, and the twist of these two styles is known as “modern botanical illustration”.
“When photography is used as a medium, images are classic in their composition,” she explains. “But they are presented in a very modern and gentle contrast, with metal frames around the edges, making them look like a canvas painting.”
Photo art gallery
It is this unique and dramatic expression of her work that has drawn people to Tenet’s photography for decades. After graduating, he worked in a local art gallery and has now started building a well-known career. “I learned a lot about the artist business and what it takes for artists to put their work in the gallery,” she says. “I learned how galleries work with artists to advance their careers.”
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Inspired by starting his own gallery, Tenent took these important lessons when he opened the Eaton Street Gallery in Birmingham. “I’ve shown better work by commercial photographers across the country,” she explains.
This gave commercial photographers a chance to showcase their work, which many of these artists couldn’t, says Tenent. “There were a lot of great car photographers in Detroit and they had all the great personal work that no one had ever seen before,” she recalls, using an architectural photographer as an example.
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However, Tenent realized that exhibiting these works alone could not support an art gallery that left the space open. Tenet already had experience in the commercial photography business, entered the industry and started cataloging.
She is J. In addition to specialist dealers such as Crew and Crate & Barrel, I have also photographed the Somerset Mall and various print magazines. The commercial photography division of her eclectic business has grown to be one of her greatest strengths and is an area she has been in for over 30 years.
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However, working in the commercial photography department meant that tenants were regularly out and about. She also photographed weddings and bar mitzvahs, and became famous in the Metro Detroit Jewish community. But at some point Tenent realized he was working seven days a week to snap photos of the event to help his family reconcile their thriving careers.
Choose a plant
Then, nine years ago, Tenent was diagnosed with breast cancer. And it slowed her down, forcing her to take some time to heal. During her recovery, she rediscovered her love for botanical illustration and made it a central part of her career.
“I realized that I was at home. How cured it was to return to the garden, ”recalls Tenent. “I wanted to go back to the photos and series that I have taken of plants over the years.”
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She took a walk, developed her own garden at home, and traveled to various botanical gardens around the country. In one botanical garden in Arizona, the garden had a glass design so Tenent understood what he wanted to do in his work.
“It was absolutely great,” she recalls. “I wanted to move this type of work from the gallery wall to the garden where people can really appreciate it in a natural setting.”
Tennent has put in place a marketing plan for displaying plant artwork in gardens across the country. She has teamed up with botanists and various gardening associations to collect interesting plant species that can be photographed in the studio. Still, there was one challenge that she had to solve.
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“To print these pieces in the garden, I had to experiment with a lot of materials,” says Tenent. “We are now printing on aluminum to ensure weather resistance,” she explains, so that botanical illustration shows (like City Bloom: Birmingham) can take place in all seasons.
City Bloom: Birmingham is the continuation of a moving plant art installation created by tenants in collaboration with various collectors and exhibits. She said her Metro Detroit appearance was perfect because it not only gave people the chance to get out of the house and walk the path, but also provided COVID-safe activities that were both inspiring and fun. say.
Pictures of succulents adorn this back pouch. Raleigh tenants
Created in collaboration with the City of Birmingham and the Robert Kid Gallery, the 3-mile trail features botanical photos of tenants printed on weather-resistant material hidden next to trees, flowers and bushes. “It brings it back to nature,” she explains.
Detroit embellishment
But that’s not the tenant’s only passion for botanical illustrations. She is also affiliated with Daffodils 4 Detroit, an organization that aims to plant millions of daffodils in the city. As a perennial flower, daffodils have grown year after year, sprinkling Detroit with yellow spray.
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To support these efforts, Tennent launched the Narcissus 4 Detroit Collection, which includes inspirational works on the theme of daffodils such as serving trays, notebooks, pencil cases, and even scarves and masks. ..
“Narcissus 4 Detroit is a very interesting project that Daffodils wants to plant for everyone in the city,” says Tennent.
“I’m returning money from a line of products I developed for this charity. To see daffodils in the city is an uplifting sight. “
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Tennent is also an advocate for the Alzheimer’s support group. Earlier this spring, she teamed up with Neiman Marcus and the Alzheimer’s Association to host the 2021 Spring Soiree. This is a shopping event where donations are collected for the association. Raleigh signed a copy of her book Plants: intimate portrait ..
It was an important mission for the artist. Her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all died at the age of 72 from early onset dementia.
She is currently giving back to the community in a number of ways. While she is planning a trip to Tuscany, Italy for a photography workshop in September, Tenent is now at the Birmingham Gallery (Laurie Tenent Botanicals). ) is also operated. She also teaches photography courses at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in Cranbrook and in her studio.
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“It is a great passion for me to help others with my work,” says Tenent.
“It is very important to me to do the beautiful things that others love and not only bring beauty into their home, but also support their legitimate purpose.”
