Sengmany Phommachakr was born in Vientiane, Laos and emigrated to Montreal, Canada with her family in 1980. She has sketched and painted since childhood, and was introduced to botanical art during her BSc studies in Plant Science at McGill University. After graduating, she moved to Ottawa and raised a family whilst continuing to paint. In 2016, she participated in Margaret Best’s workshop at the Waterton Wildflower Festival, a turning point in her career. Sengmany refocused on botanical art and assiduously honed her technical skills under Best’s mentorship. She loves executing textured surfaces on fruit and vegetable subjects and received additional skill guidance from Asuka Hishiki. Sengmany’s work has been shown in Canada, including the Botanical Art Worldwide: Art of the Plant and in the USA at the ASBA 23rd Annual International at Wave Hill.
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C’est à l’école primaire lors des leçons de sciences que l’intérêt de Sengmany pour le dessin d’observation s’est révélé. Après un baccalauréat en sciences végétales à l’université McGill, au cours duquel elle a suivi un cours d’illustration scientifique, elle a souhaité se perfectionner en illustration botanique. Son engouement pour cet art lui a permis de rencontrer des artistes et des professeurs aussi talentueux que généreux, du Canada, des Etats-Unis, de l’Australie, de l’Angleterre et de la France.
Pour cette artiste, l’illustration botanique est un refuge où elle prend le temps d’observer le monde végétal qui l’entoure et de témoigner de sa grande beauté.