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“Botanical artists are the bearers of the knowledge of scientific illustration,” says Grootbos artist-in-residence Chris Lochner -
Artist Nic Bladen works in bronze and silver to cast life-sized sculptures of fynbos. -
The intuitive design of the gallery allows for glimpses of the surrounding forest. -
The florilegium celebrates the diversity of fynbos found in the Cape Overberg.
WORDS Richard Holmes PHOTOS Dook; Supplied
The Western Cape’s Grootbos Private Nature Reserve boasts a revamped lodge, a new botanical art gallery and an accompanying book to boot.
For the fynbos of the Cape Floral Kingdom, a wildfire isn’t a crisis. It’s an opportunity; the chance for long-dormant seeds to crack their protective coats, for shoots of new growth.
And for Michael Lutzeyer, co-founder of Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, the fiery crisis that Covid-19 wrought on the tourism industry was indeed a unique opportunity: to rebuild the reserve’s ageing Garden Lodge, and establish a remarkable new gallery dedicated to botanical art.
The Hannarie Wenhold Botanical Art Gallery is the first of its kind in Africa: a purpose-built home to a florilegium – a collection of botanical artworks – that celebrates the rare and endangered species of fynbos found in the southern Overberg. Some, such as Lachenalia lutzeyeri, are endemic to the region. A vignette exploring each plant’s position within the ecosystem accompanies the primary artwork.
“It was important to bring in the pollinators, because we are trying to conserve the entire landscape,” says Michael. “Through the florilegium, we hope to broaden the knowledge and respect that plants should be getting, and raise awareness about how threatened they are here.”
The gallery is spread across seven exhibition spaces, each focused on a different aspect of the ecosystem, from diversity to pollination. “Heritage” is particularly fascinating, marking fynbos’s timeless role as “the larder, chemist and hardware store” for people living in the Cape, while “Forests” highlights the ancient milkwoods conserved on Grootbos.
The gallery space itself is the work of architect Vaughan Russell of Field Architecture. High-level windows allow for glimpses of the sky while ensuring indirect lighting. Balancing light and the constraints of the site gave rise to a “dynamic sculptural form with a stepped façade, and made the movement through the galleries interesting,” says Vaughan. “You don’t enter and exit on one axis… But we wanted a strong visual reference to where you were going; a sense of clarity through the building.”
Vaughan was also responsible for the reinvention of the Grootbos Garden Lodge, set on a hillside above the gallery. The original lodge, built in 1995, had become outdated, and the hiatus in inbound tourism presented the perfect time to rebuild. “The only way to rebuild was to raze the lodge to the ground,” says Michael. The new lodge, plus the 11 freestanding suites, largely occupy the existing footprint – but building from the ground up allowed Vaughan to choreograph a heightened sense of arrival.
“The design of the main lodge entrance was critical,” he says. “Guests ascend a long landscaped staircase, and the views are kept from them until the very last moment.”
The Grootbos Florilegium book is a landmark collection of botanical artworks.
A fresh perspective on the king protea, by Jenny Malcolm, graces the cover of the Grootbos Florilegium.
While the coastal views are undoubtedly a highlight, Vaughan paid equal attention to the lighting and spatial quality of the interiors. Here, guests can marvel at the landscape while feeling immersed within it – a feeling subtly amplified via the internal structures, with steel and timber beams a symbolic echo of the boughs of milkwood trees in the forests beyond.
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