Dr Shirley Sherwood is a force of nature. For the last 30 years, she's been collecting and exhibiting works of art by contemporary botanical artists worldwide and has significantly helped to raise the profile of the genre and the plants it portrays.She became interested in plants and art as a young child and went on to study Botany at Oxford University before earning her D.Phil as part of the team that discovered the drug Tagamet.

She started the Shirley Sherwood Collection in 1990 and it now includes over 1,000 paintings and drawings representing the work of more than 300 contemporary botanical artists from 36 countries around the world.

On the collection UA-cam, you'll get the opportunity to watch Dr. Shirley discuss her paintings, as well as artists from the collection presenting their background and practice.