Forth Flora: A Study in Porcelain

This is a commission for the new Haematology Wing at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, which opened in May 2021. The brief was to explore the landscape, ecology and heritage of the Firth of Forth.

The work comprises of a set of five glazed box frames: three large main frames, linked by two small boxes. These frames contain hand-built porcelain forms inspired by some of the different plants growing within the area of the 3 iconic bridges that span the Firth of Forth. Each frame has a different theme: Flowering Plants, Bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) and Lichens. The 2 small boxes contain porcelain labels depicting the common names of the plants which inspired the work. These bespoke oak box frames are instantly recognisable as a representation of the famous Forth Rail Bridge.

The finished work is fixed to a large wall. Each main frame measures: 87.5 cm (W), 58 cm (H), 10 cm (D).

All images of Forth Flora by Shannon Tofts.

Herbarium

Ongoing artistic research at the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh gives me complete access to their huge collection of pressed plants specimens and impressive carpological collection. This provides me with endless inspiration and I have recently been experimenting with incorporating specimen imagery into my work. Using inlay, slips and decal techniques, colour is creeping back into my work after many years of preferring a monochrome palette.

Spirit Collection

I am fascinated by the spirit collections of pickled flowers and fruit that you see in national collections and herbaria. These are plant specimens that are too fragile to be pressed and dried so are instead stored in alcohol within glass jars. In this collection of work, I have tried to give a sense of this, by placing my botanically inspired porcelain forms inside glass jars and bespoke acrylic boxes, attached in such a way to give a sense that they are floating within their containers.

Still

This installation is about the memory of a common garden potting shed. I love to plant seeds and watch them grow; especially that moment when all the little pots are neatly lined up, each with a thriving, growing seedling inside. Imagine if you could freeze that moment and allow it to become a visual memory, a ghost, or an apparition of that point in time. The shed measures 3 x 6ft and is painted to give an aged and weather-beaten look. Inside sits 72 porcelain “seedlings” glowing on an illuminated bench.

The work was shown at the Royal Scottish Academy as a selected installation for the Society of Scottish Artists and also at The Scottish Sculpture Park, Caol Ruadh.

Think Plastic: Materials & Making

Hybrids

One of my favourite ways to work is to select favourite composite shapes from plants in order to create my own ceramic “hybrids”. One of the plants that has inspired me the most are water lilies, which re-appear regularly in my work.

Amazonia – the underside of the leaf of the Amazonica water lily are covered in sharp predatory spikes which ensures domination of its watery habitat as it slowly unfurls. Hand built in porcelain, the challenge was to capture in clay, a sense of the gentle movement of these spikes in the water. This piece was part of a set of three that was placed in the ornamental pond at the Scottish Sculpture Park.

Sindora – is inspired by seed pods from the carpological collection in the herbarium. These small pods carpet the forest floor with their sharp spikes. I took the shape and adapted it to hand build this piece of work.

Scaphium

Scaphium is a response to a place and event that I have only imagined. It began when tropical botanist Dr. Peter Wilkie from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, gave me a selection of beautiful dried fruits that he had brought back from an expedition to the rainforests of Malaysia. He told me about the tree where the fruits came from, and from that conversation the idea for this work was born. The work is a complex hanging of 100 porcelain forms inspired by the intricate fruit of the large tropical tree in the genus Scaphium that grows in the rain forests of South East Asia. Replicating these fruits in translucent porcelain, my installation captures the moment when the tree releases its papery fruits allowing them to flutter to the forest floor covering it in a thick carpet. As if in a tropical breeze, the piece continuously and gently moves with even the slightest breath, encapsulating the fragility and beauty of this event in the life-cycle of the tree. Scaphium was used to highlight the importance of protecting the special location where the tree grows and the real threat of deforestation that it faces. This was the focus of a series of combined talks with myself and Dr. Wilkie. Using the work as a starting point, we spoke to many groups including local school children about the importance and place plants have in our complex interconnected natural world.

“It was Lorna’s joy and enthusiasm for the specimens I was bringing back from the tropics that convinced me that through her art I might be able to tell the story of my science. It has been a truly inspiring partnership and it is clear that by celebrating the pure beauty of the natural world through her art we have managed to engage a wide audience with the science undertaken at the RBGE and its role in helping protect our natural world”. Dr. Peter Wilkie.

The work was first shown at the exhibition Making Space, Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh; and the Meffan Gallery Forfar; and I was then invited to exhibit the work at the 2017 Cheongju International Craft Biennale, S.Korea, as part of the U.K pavilion with the Crafts Council, British Council and Craft Biennale Scotland.

Miscellany