Exhibition: Emergent Gardens

Join me in creating botanical watercolor studies during the Nature Watercolor Workshop, in the context of my solo exhibition at Denizen House! – Mira O’Brien

Emergent Gardens

Mira O’Brien

Denizen House, Köpenicker Str. 40, Berlin

January 10- February 18, 2025

I’ve got exciting news to share!  A pop-up exhibition of my artwork is on view to coincide with my workshop series Nature Watercolor at Denizen. 

Combining my teaching and my studio practice has been such a journey. Years of research, interactions with students and countless hours in the studio trenches have brought me to this place where I can integrate these two aspects of my practice. Now this might seem like a no brainer. Why wouldn’t my studio practice and my teaching practice align? When I started Berlin Drawing Room back in 2011, I was deep in the world of installation and performance art and I missed painting and drawing so much that it was one of the motivating factors that led me to teaching these mediums. My origins as an artist were rooted in painting and a fascination with natural world, but for some years it was actually teaching botanical watercolor that gave me the best outlet for this passion. 

 I decided, at one point, that I wanted the botanical imagery from my watercolors to take center stage in my conceptual art practice. I began to question the meaning behind my relationship with plants and what the broader implications could be. What happens when you take inspiration from 17th century flower painters and 18th century Naturalists, and yet strive to create something that is a true reflections of our current times? How has our relationship with nature changed and how might it develop? These are some of the questions that led me to create this current body of work, a series of oil paintings that conjure a re-enchanted world of landscapes in flux. 

Emergent Gardens

As we navigate the shifting boundaries between humanity, nature, and artificial intelligence, it is time to question the assumptions that define these divisions. These paintings conjure a re-enchanted world of landscapes in flux, where relationships between the organic and the synthetic blur and transform. In an era when Enlightenment ideals lose their dominance, this project revisits the dawn of modern science—a time when hierarchical views of nature began shaping Western thought.

Nature Watercolor Workshop: Jan 21, 28, Feb 11, 18

Starting next Tuesday, join me at Denizen for the first Nature Watercolor Workshop. We will paint specimens from nature in the context of my solo exhibition. I’ll be teaching beginner friendly watercolor techniques, and I will be open to questions and discussion about my entire practice. 

Botanical Prints Sale

Fine art quality prints from original watercolor paintings by Mira
O’Brien. Signed and dated.
A3 – 45 Euro
A4 – 35 Euro
A3 with exhibition frame – 45+40= 85 Euro
Please inquire:
contact@berlindrawingroom.com