Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
1 Early life and education
2 Career
2.1 Injury
3 Awards and recognition
4 References
5 External links
Career
Tangerini primarily does her illustrations in the United States National Herbarium,[2][3] and worked under
American botanist Warren H. Wagner.[4] Even though she frequently relies on pressed and dried herbarium
specimens as her models, she does go on location to areas such as California, Hawaii, and Guyana to see the
flora in their natural environment.[3] She differentiated botanical art from fine
art by clarifying that "botanical art had to be recognized at least to genus, if not
to species".[6]
Larsenianthus wardianus as Tangerini's illustrations have been featured in numerous scientific publications,
illustrated by Tangerini such as The Flora of the Guianas, as well as a number of books.[1][3][4] In 1980,
she created a "one-man show of palm drawings" in the National Museum of
Natural History and she curated the "North American Wild Flowers:
Watercolors by Mary Vaux Walcott" exhibit in 1990. This collection was also held in the National Museum of
Natural History.[1] In 2013, she published the article Whatever happened to Bishopanthus, along with co-
writers Vicki Funk and Harold E. Robinson, in the botanical journal PhytoKeys.[7]
Aside from her work in illustration, Tangerini has also given lectures and taught classes on the subject at
several locations, including the Smithsonian Associates, United States Department of Agriculture, Montgomery
College, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, and the Minnesota
School of Botanical Art.[3] She is a manager and curator for botanical art in the National Museum of Natural
History's botany department,[8] and runs the Smithsonian Catalog of Botanical Illustrations.[6] She also serves
as a board member on the American Society of Botanical Artists.[9]
Injury
In 2005, Tangerini lost sight in her right eye following an unidentified injury. She was not given a clear
diagnosis on the issue. Tangerini attributed the injury to too many years of working. After receiving surgery in
the same year, she was identified as having diplopia in her right eye. Wagner suggested that Tangerini wear an
eyepatch so that she could continue her work at the museum, and offered her "[his] son's pirate patch" as
support. Tangerini returned to work and, in addition to wearing an eyepatch, started to use a graphics tablet and
Adobe Photoshop and relied more on digital technology to give her a clearer view of an image.[4]
On August 24, 2016, the Smithsonian Institution Archives selected Tangerini for its Wonderful Women
Wednesday, describing her as a "Groundbreaker".[10] Order Sons of Italy in America called her "one of the
world's best botanical illustrator".[11] Warren H. Wagner described her as the best artist in her field,[4] and the
Smithsonian Associates called her a "leading contemporary practitioners" in botanical illustration.[9]
As of March 9, 2017, Tangerini remains the only botanical illustrator ever hired by the Smithsonian.[2]
References
1. "Artists Represented in the Smithsonian Catalog of Botanical Illustrations" (https://web.archive.org/web/201707141359
29/http://botany.si.edu/botart/tangerini.htm). National Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original (http://bot
any.si.edu/botart/tangerini.htm)on July 14, 2017.
2. Corson, Cheryl (March 9, 2017)."Botanical Illustrator Alice Tangerini" (http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/conten
t/botanical-illustrator-alice-tangerini). Hill Rag. Capital Community News Inc.
3. "Alice Tangerini" (https://www.asba-art.org/member-gallery/alice-tangerini). American Society of Botanical Artists.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160413023152/http://asba-art.org/member-gallery/alice-tangerini)from the
original on April 13, 2016.
4. Robbins, Ted (September 8, 2009)."Illustrator Keeps Artistic Vision Despite Eye Injury"(http://www.npr.org/templates/
story/story.php?storyId=112515247). NPR. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160317141512/http://www.npr.or
g/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112515247) from the original on March 17, 2016.
5. "Presenters" (http://www.gnsi.science-art.com/2011wa/pages/presenters_bios.html). Guild of Natural Science
Illustrators. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160612073048/http://www.gnsi.science-art.com/2011WA/pages/pr
esenters_bios.html) from the original on June 12, 2016.
6. Ben-Ari, Elia T. (August 1, 1999). "Better than a thousand words: Botanical artists blend science and aesthetics" (https://
web.archive.org/web/20170714140002/https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/49/8/60 2/254557/Better-than-a-thou
sand-wordsBotanical-artists). BioScience. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original (https://academic.oup.co
m/bioscience/article/49/8/602/254557/Better -than-a-thousand-wordsBotanical-artists)on July 14, 2017.
7. "Publications List for 'Tangerini, Al.' " (https://web.archive.org/web/20170714140038/http://botany.si.edu/staff/showFull
List.cfm?thisAuthor=Tangerini,%20Al). National Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original (http://botany.
si.edu/staff/showFullList.cfm?thisAuthor=Tangerini,%20Al) on July 14, 2017.
8. "Alice Tangerini" (http://arts.vcu.edu/where-are-they-now/alice-tangerini/) . Virginia Commonwealth University.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150906150609/http://arts.vcu.edu/where-are-they-now/alic e-tangerini/) from
the original on September 6, 2015.
9. "Science as Art: The Beauty of Botanical Illustration"(https://web.archive.org/web/20170714140109/https://smithsonia
nassociates.org/ticketing/Tickets/Reserve.aspx?id=236281). Smithsonian Associates. February 12, 2017. Archived from
the original (https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/Tickets/Reserve.aspx?id=236281)on July 14, 2017.
10. Kapsalis, Effie (August 24, 2016)."Wonderful Women Wednesday: Alice R. Tangerini" (https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/w
onderful-women-wednesday-alice-r-tangerini). Smithsonian Institution Archives. Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20170315173930/https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/wonderful-women-wednesday-alice-r -tangerini) from the original on
March 15, 2017.
11. "Winter 2011 Newsmakers" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170714140142/https://www.osia.org/news/nm2011/winter.p
hp). Order Sons of Italy in America. 2011. Archived from the original (https://www.osia.org/news/nm2011/winter.php)
on July 14, 2017.
External links
Alice Tangerini on the National Museum of Natural History website
Categories: 1949 births Living people People from Takoma Park, Maryland Artists from Maryland
American women illustrators Botanical illustrators Smithsonian Institution people
Virginia Commonwealth University alumni People from Kensington, Maryland
20th-century American artists 20th-century women artists 21st-century American artists
21st-century women artists