Angela Mirro

Home | E-mail me | Artist's statement and bio
View orchid image gallery | View landscape image gallery | Phragmipedium kovachii painting


Angela Mirro studied art at Parsons School of Design. She developed a career as a textile designer, while focusing on botanical watercolor paintings of orchids for seventeen years. Her textile clients include Polo Ralph Lauren and Lee Jofa Inc. She has also painted and exhibited watercolor landscapes.

Her work has been widely exhibited at such venues as:

  • Longwood Gardens Centennial Exhibition – Orchids in Contemporary Botanical Art, Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA 2006. Received ASBA Award of Excellence for Cypripedium kentuckiense
  • The Ashmolean Museum, A New Flowering:1000 Years of Botanical Art, The Shirley Sherwood Collection, Oxford, England 2005
  • The 7th International Juried Botanical Art Exhibit, The New York Horticultural Society, New York, NY 2004
  • The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, The Shirley Sherwood Collection, Exeter, England 2004
  • The Highstead Arboretum, Juried Exhibition, ‘Native Wildflowers’, Redding, CT 2004
  • The Brooklyn Florilegium Society, Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, NY 2004
  • The Brooklyn Florilegium Society, Steinhardt Gallery, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY 2003, 2004
  • The Festival De Las Orquideas, Quito, Ecuador 2004
  • The Club Peruano De Orquideas, V Expo International De Orquideas Art Exhibit, Lima, Peru 2003
  • The 23rd New York International Orchid Show Art Exhibit, Rockefeller Center, New York City, NY 2003
  • The American Society of Botanical Artists Juried Art Exhibit, New York Horticultural Society, New York, NY 1998, 2000, 2002
  • The National Arts Club, New York City, NY 2001, 2002
  • The New York Orchid Show, The Courtyard Gallery at The World Financial Center, New York City, NY 1991 – 2001
  • St. Joseph's College 'Flowers and Landscapes' Exhibit, Brooklyn, NY 2000
  • The Smithsonian Institution Arts and Industries Building, The 'Artistry of Orchids' Art Exhibit, Washington, DC 2000
  • St. Joseph’s College ‘Flowers and Landscapes’ two person exhibit, Brooklyn, NY 2000
  • The Lupine Gallery, Monhegan Island, Maine 1993-2002
  • The Bruce Museum, 'Flowers and Their Pollinators' Art Exhibit, Greenwich, Connecticut 2000
  • The American Society of Botanical Artists Juried Exhibition, The Chicago Botanic Garden, where she received an ‘Award of Excellence’ 1997

Her work is contained in many private collections and is included in The Shirley Sherwood Collection , London, England, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society, Brooklyn, NY, The Atlanta Botanic Garden, Atlanta Georgia and that of The American Orchid Society’s Headquarters in Delray Beach, Florida.

She was commissioned to create the posters for:

  • The New York International Orchid Show 1992-2005
  • The Miami Orchid Show 1999-2004
  • The Club Peruano De Orquideas Orchid Show 1997
  • The American Orchid Society's 75th Commemorative Anniversary 1996

Her paintings have appeared on the front covers of Orchids Magazine 2000 and The Orchid Digest 2001, as well as in the ‘Orchids in Art Series’ for Orchids Magazine 2001- 2004. Her paintings were also published in Dr. David Grove’s book titled ‘Vandas and Ascocendas’, Timber Press 1995.

Over the past several years, she has given a slide presentation on 'Orchids in Art and Illustration' to local orchid societies and most recently at The Huntington Museum in San Marino, California for the Orchid Digest.

She is a member of:

  • The American Society of Botanical Artists
  • The Brooklyn Florilegium Society
  • The Brooklyn Watercolor Society
  • The American Orchid Society
  • The Greater New York Orchid Society
  • Artists Equity

Artist's Statement

I discovered my first orchids many years ago. Each day while walking to art school in New York City, I would see them displayed in a florist's window. They were captivating and made quite an impression on me. Over the years I focused on a textile design career, while painting landscapes, but that first impression always stayed with me and eventually my art and orchids would merge. I introduced my mother, Marilyn Mirro to growing them and there she found her passion. Her ability to provide me with a beautiful plant to paint got me started. A whole world opened up to me. As a lover of 'light' and landscape painting, I must really attribute my desire to paint botanically to orchids. No other flower could have held my devotion all these years.

The orchids depicted in my paintings have come to me in various ways and I always prefer to work directly from life. I owe many thanks to all of the generous orchid growers who have lent me their plants. I have also travelled to the sites of rare orchids, to study them in their habitats. Whenever possible, I try to convey them in their natural habitat as so much of it is disappearing. Orchids and their interconnection with the natural world needs to be seen, valued and protected. I hope my paintings, if even in a small way, can help increase conservation awareness.

The experience of painting orchids is energizing and magical, they almost seem to exert their will. Their resilence and beauty is a testament to life. I paint orchids to connect with that force and to celebrate it.