NIC BLADEN | Field Notes (Grootbos)

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14 November - 5 December 2026
Everard Read Franschhoek
20 Huguenot Road

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, 14 November @ 11am.

November 2026 sees the exhibition of a new body of work by Nic Bladen at Everard Read in Franschhoek. In Field Notes, Bladen continues his exploration of the flora of Grootbos, a private nature reserve in the Walker Bay region of the Western Cape. These botanical sculptures celebrate the subtle and diverse beauty of the plants of Grootbos, an area known for its extraordinary biodiversity. 

Since Bladen's first solo exhibition at Everard Read Cape Town in 2013, he has exhibited locally and internationally, including at The Armory Show in New York, in 2025 and Art Paris in 2026. Bladen's unique works can be found in numerous private and corporate collections around the world. ‘Field Notes’ will be his thirteenth solo exhibition with the Everard Read Gallery. 

A percentage of sales from the exhibition will go to the Grootbos Foundation, which was established with the vision of conserving the unique Cape Floral Kingdom and developing sustainable livelihoods, particularly in the Walker Bay region, through eco-tourism, enterprise development, sports development and education.

"I’m currently working with Grootbos, a private reserve situated in the far west of the Agulhas Plain within the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. With a plant list now of more than a thousand species, seven of which are new to science and many rare or threatened, Grootbos is a trove of botanical delights.

With permission to range freely through a landscape as diverse as Grootbos, where four distinct geological and soil formations converge, each supporting its own fynbos and forest habitats, the choice of plants is vast and impossible to encompass in a single exhibition. Thankfully, my relationship with Grootbos may continue, into some form of perpetuity, where working alongside the resident ecologists, I may venture to capture the shape of most of the flora abundant there. This is a lifetime’s body of work.

Field Notes (Grootbos) is my second exhibition depicting plants found in the reserve. Most of these plants were found while exploring on my own. Others were pointed out to me, such as Watsonia spectabilis, a post-fire specialist.

There are other plants that I have yet to successfully cast. One such example is Gladiolus overbergensis, a threatened species. Unseasonal south-easterly winds during winter meant that my two attempts to cast this plant were unsuccessful. I may have to wait a further 20 years, until after the next fire, before another opportunity presents itself.

My impetus to cast plants has always been documentation: to preserve the extraordinary shapes of plants, to ‘record’ them for an uncertain future.

In recognition of the importance of protecting the landscape that informs this body of work, Everard Read Gallery and I are delighted to contribute a percentage of sales from the exhibition to the Grootbos Foundation, whose work is dedicated to conserving the unique Cape Floral Kingdom and developing sustainable livelihoods in the Walker Bay region."

EVERARD READ FRANSCHHOEK
20 Huguenot Road, Franschhoek, 7690
+27 21 876 2446 l fgallery@everard.co.za
Monday – Sunday | 09:30 - 17:00

If you are looking to add to your collection and you are unable to make it to our gallery during operating hours, please contact us via fgallery@everard.co.za to make an appointment outside of these hours.