PSBI, the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators, was started in 1997 by Arleen Weinstein and Joan Leonard, two artists in a newly formed botanical illustration course sponsored by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The classes, begun in 1995, were held at Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, PA and were taught by Louisa Rawle Tine'. Louisa is a nationally recognized, award-winning botanical illustrator who has taught at The New York Botanical Gardens since 1985 in their Botanical Illustration Certification Program. Louisa came from New York to Wayne once a week for class to teach a small but stalwart group of fledgling botanical artists. One of the members of this class, Ann Biggs, was also taking a Botanical Illustration class at Longwood Gardens under teacher Joan Frain. These two classes formed the core of PSBI's early membership.

In April of 1997, PSBI began with two goals. The first was to promote botanical illustration and provide venues for artists to exhibit. The second goal was to create interest in this art form, which has a long tradition in our area starting with John Bartram, the founder of North America's first botanical garden in 1728. Another aim was to create non-competitive, nurturing relationships among our members.

Because of Arleen's association with PHS, we were given an opportunity to exhibit in the train shed to the Philadelphia Flower Show from 1998 through 2002. These were self-juried shows and all members had the opportunity to exhibit, as well as educate the public about botanical illustration.

During those early years, PSBI saw the importance of classes and workshops. Louisa was asked to continue teaching her classes, now through our organization. Louisa's class still meets twice a year at Chanticleer, administered by Pam Oakes. Meetings were set up to educate us on the history of botanical illustraton: we had a visit to PHS's collection of antique botanical art,a talk by Arcadia Art Department Chair, Scott Rawlins, about his painting trip to the Amazon, and a meeting on how to make slides of your artwork, among others. After a few years the group included members from surrounding states and had become an organization that continued to grow. Pam Oakes became President in 2000, continuing our meetings, educational workshops, and our participation in the Philadelphia Flower Show.

By 2002 the group had grown enough to consider community outreach, and proposed a series of classes at the Fleisher Art Memorial for high school students, funded entirely by PSBI. Since that time, two or three PSBI members have taught each Spring . Using that educational service as basis, Barbara Neswald filed for 501 (c)3 status for PSBI, which was successfully granted. Subsequently, the American Philosophical Society asked PSBI to participate in their summer-long Urban Field Station project in the Jefferson Garden in Philadelphia, under the direction of internationally-known artist Mark Dion. Our members volunteered to help children of all ages try their hands at botanical illustration, as part of an homage to the botanical work of John Bartram, an early member of the APS, and his son William, the first American botanical illustrator.

After serving as vice president during Pam Oakes' presidency, Joan Frain became president in June 2003, with Fran Phaneuf serving as executive vice president, although these two officers chose to share the administrative load equally. During this two year period the emphasis was on finding more opportunities for the group to get together to share and exhibit our work, as well as continue our community outreach and education projects.

In 2003 we were invited once again to exhibit at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's annual Flower show . This time we were given the honor of being placed in the Garden Gallery in the Main Hall. In 2005 we were given our own specially constructed space, and have contiued to exhibit yearly. The shows are now juried by an independent panel to ensure consistently high quality in keeping with Flower Show standards.

As a group we have exhibited at a variety of museums, galleries and arboretums with unjuried shows open to the entire membership. Individually, some of our members have been juried into such prestigious exhibits such as The Hunt Institute's International Exhibit, the ASBA Longwood Gardens Centennial Orchid Exhibit, the National Capitol Orchid Show and the Maryland Orchid Sciety's annual State Fair Orchid Show.

Our membership consists of award-wining professionals in the field of botanical art, well qualified instructors, and gifted amateurs of all levels of expertise, working together with the same goals as our founders -- to provide botanical artists with education and support, and to advance public awareness of botanical art in the three state area. This work (and the membership) has continued to grow under subsequent presidents: Linda Kneeland (2005-7), Virginia Fitzpatrick (2007-9) and Barbara Neswald (2009- ). We are fortunate to have a gifted web master and designer in Pat Field, and have enjoyed the newsletter that has been published by a series of volunteers, and is now going electronic.

In 2007 we celebrated our Tenth Anniversary with an elegant Founders Luncheon, an all-members exhibit at Chanticleer Gardens, which was kicked off with a formal cocktail party, all organized by Ingrid Arnesen-Graham. Ingrid was the newsletter editor and publisher for ten years and in 2007she edited and published a 10th anniversary hardcover book of all the membership work. At the Founders Luncheon, we honored each of our past presidents and Ingrid with a silk scarf including past presidents' work as the design.

We have enjoyed a series of special events and trips over the last few years as time and budget have allowed, and have continued charitable work. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina destroyed the New Orleans Botanical Garden, we ran a series of fundraising events and efforts and raised several thousand dollars . Working through Walter Orff of Waldor Orchids, we sent them the two season display of dozens of plants they had requested. In 2009 a portion of the sales of members' work exhibited at the Flower Show was given to Philabundance to help the hungry.