ABOUT
Born in Madrid in 1963.
Degree in Biological Sciences from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Specialization: Environmental Biology.
She completed her artistic training through courses at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Madrid (Complutense University of Madrid, UCM) and at several other art academies.
Since 1987, she has worked as a scientific illustrator on a variety of research and outreach projects for the Royal Botanical Garden CSIC (Madrid) and other governmental agencies. Her illustrations have been published in numerous books and magazines.
Since 1998, she has been a member of The Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) of the United Kingdom.
In 1999, she was awarded the Gold Medal by The Royal Horticultural Society for the illustrated project “Aquatic Flora of Castilla-La Mancha”.
Marta Chirino Argenta has been exhibiting her artwork, both individually and with others, since 2001.
Since 2009, she has been teaching botanical illustration workshops at various institutions and organizations (Royal Botanical Garden CSIC; Atlantic Botanic Garden of Gijón; King Juan Carlos University, Madrid; Visual Artists Association of the Canary Islands; Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Miguel Arcángel, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; summer courses at UCM–El Escorial, etc.).
In 2010, she received the Margaret Stevens Award and the SBA’s Certificate of Botanical Merit (in honour of her commitment to environmental and botanical studies through scientific illustration).
In 2016, she was nominated (“highly commended”) for the Joyce Cuming Presentation Award by the SBA.
Between 2015 and 2019, she was vice-president of the Fundación de Arte y Pensamiento Martín Chirino (Martín Chirino Art and Thought Foundation) and became its president in March 2019. The foundation received the Gold Medal for Fine Arts in 2021.
She has been a curator and an image, design, and production coordinator of various projects, including the exhibition “Tulipa, Tulipae. The illustrated tulip”, organized by the Royal Botanical Garden CSIC and The Society of Botanical Artists (2018).
In 2020, she finished illustrating the Flora Acuática Española (Spanish Aquatic Flora), which was published in two volumes (Vascular hydrophytes and Helophytes). She donated her illustrations to the Royal Botanical Garden Archives. (Project Scientific Director: Dr. Santos Cirujano Bracamonte).
In October 2022, she was appointed Corresponding Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Miguel Arcángel of the Canary Islands.