Sue Wickison receives prestigious award from the RNZIH
Many congratulations to Sue Wickison who has become an Associate of Honour of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (AHRIH). This is awarded to persons who have given distinguished service to horticulture in New Zealand and is a select group because the RNZIH rules state that no more than 60 people can hold the award, and no more than three awards are given per year.
Here is the short citation, written and delivered by Ross Ferguson ONZM, at the awards ceremony on Friday 4 April 2025 at the ANZ Centre, Auckland.
‘Sue Wickison is a distinguished botanical illustrator and botanical artist.
She has lived and worked in many countries, and is currently based on Waiheke Island, Auckland. Her work is outstanding because of its botanical accuracy combined with technical competence and artistic flair. Her paintings are not timid but are striking because of their size and their boldness.She has revitalised botanical art.The quality of her work has been recognised by awards from the Royal Horticultural Society, the Society of Botanical Artists, London, and the Linnean Society, London. Several of these awards are for excellence in published illustrations in aid of plant identification, with an emphasis on botanical accuracy and the accurate portrayal of diagnostic characteristics. Ms Wickison has travelled extensively with her work, often at her own expense, recording new or endangered species and forestry trees. The plants painted range from the tiniest and one of the rarest waterlilies in the world from Lesotho in Southern Africa to desert plants from the Middle East. Many of her paintings illustrate ethnobotanical studies, such as the use of plants from several different Pacific nations, or their use for slope stabilisation in Nepal.
Her greatest and most sustained achievement is the completion of paintings for the book, Plants of the Qur’ān: History and Culture. Her coherent collection of paintings was exhibited for five months at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a most convincing indication of her international status as an eminent botanical artist. The book is now in its fifth reprint. In 2023, it won the Garden Book of the Year Award from the Garden Media Guild UK and in 2024, the Award of Excellence in Botanical Art and Illustration from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.
An Associate of Honour of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture is one who has rendered distinguished service to horticulture. Ms Wickison is a botanical artist and illustrator of international standing. By her artistic endeavours she has clearly rendered distinguished service to horticulture in New Zealand as well as overseas.’
Sue Wickison at work in her studio
The long citation will be published later in the year in the New Zealand Garden Journal, the twice a year RNZIH journal. Previous journals are available to read online here although, as we do, the most recent are only available to members
Sue Wickison receiving her award from RNZIH President, Alan Jolliffe
Front cover of ‘Plants of the Qur’ān: History and Culture’
