BIOGRAPHY

Roberta Rosenthal, is an award winning artist, specializing in botanical art. Her art is created with watercolor, gouache, oils or mixed media for paintings, illustrations and designs. Roberta was born and raised in the Bronx. She is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology with a degree in Textile Design and is a graduate of the High School of Art & Design in New York City. Roberta studied botanical art at the New York Botanical Garden, oil painting at the Art Students League, Asian brush painting at the Koho School of Sumi-e and privately with modern Chinese master Kou Liang Jui. After working as a staff designer for Macy's, executive design studio, textile corporations and art studios Roberta founded RSR Designs art studio in Manhattan in 1977. For more than 35 years her fine art has been featured on postage stamps, books, magazines, packaging, stationary, giftware and many products.

Roberta has had solo exhibits at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, Society of Illustrators Museum of American Illustration, the Horticultural Society of New York, the Riverdale Y, Barnes and Noble Newburgh and the Beck Gallery. Roberta participates in juried and invitational exhibits at the Society of Illustrators, Catskill Art Society, Catskill Mountain Gallery, New York State Museum, Albany, Asia Society Museum, NYC, New York Botanical Garden, numerous garden centers and galleries. Roberta has received honors from Women in Design, a grant from the Bronx Council on the Arts and an honor award from the Asia Society. Most recently she was given a Mona Lisa Award for this website please see the contact page. Her art is collected internationally by private and corporate collectors. Roberta has traveled extensively in the United States, Hawaii, Europe, Mexico, Caribbean Islands and China where she has overseen production of her art and found inspiration for her art. Among her most recent commissions include logos for the Institute of Ecosystem Studies Cary Conference 2005, Weston Nurseries Hopkinton, MA, Wurtsboro Art Alliance and the Red Eft Gallery. At the Red Eft Gallery she was the consulting artistic director, and curator  from January - October 2007.

Roberta is an art instructor at the New York Botanical Gardens Continuing Adult Education Department in the Botanical Art Certificate program, since 1986, where she teaches painting techniques and business practices. She was also an art instructor at the Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY and the Catskill Art Society in Hurleyville, New York. She offers workshops and seminars for artists and organizations. Roberta is an active member of the Society of Illustrators, American Society of Botanical Artists, Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the Catskill Art Society. She was a board member of the New York Graphic Artist's Guild  and as executive director of their job placement services. Roberta served on the Board of the Catskill Art Society and is an honorary member and current President of the Wurtsboro Art Alliance. Her art has been featured for the benefit of the National Women’s Division American Committee for Shaare Zedek, Jerusalem Medical Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and Maimonides Hospital in New York. Her current studio, Squirrel's Nest, is located on Shawanga Mountain in Bloomingburg, New York with a woodland garden overlooking the Hudson Valley.