RURAL ARTISAN
When ill health threatened to turn her life upside down, Katy Eccles crafted a new career, creating ravishingly beautiful casts of homegrown plants
VOWDEN PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREW MONTGOMERY
Some people relish the ephemeral qualities of flowers, waiting patiently as they come into bloom and enjoying their fleeting beauty. But what if you could capture them at their best and keep them for ever? Botanical artist Katy Eccles does just that by casting flowers in plaster of Paris to create remarkably intricate three-dimensional reliefs. Her pieces, from petite roundels depicting a single flower head to half-metre panels evoking a meadow, are unapologetically pretty, sometimes almost otherworldly. “I preserve moments in nature’s transient cycle,” says Katy, gazing out over her mother’s garden in Fife, where she has a studio and gets much of her foliage.
On a typical day in March, Katy might pick a cluster of spring snowflakes (Leucojum vernum), their tiny bells waving in the wind, or be tempted by a Magnolia stellata that’s covered in lightly scented star-shaped blooms. Whatever the season, the five-acre plot – largely the creation of her plant-loving mother, Sue – offers plenty of inspiration.
TALENT – IN SPADES
Katy had an outdoorsy childhood – building dens, foraging for sloes and riding horses. She also loved making things and, after reading history of art at Cambridge, worked in the art world for a decade, teaching, curating and in sales. Four years ago, she set up her own business, customising secondhand clothes with embroidered designs of birds and beasts. Around the same time, Katy became unwell. She has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that causes mucus to build up in organs, and, as a child, had spent frequent spells in hospital. “My energy plummeted,” she says. “I turned to creativity to get me through what was happening to my body.” Through her fatigue, Katy sewed and sketched, and sculpted miniature models.
As well as working as an architect, Katy’s mum, Sue, had been casting flowers in plaster as a side project. Katy had a go and, a year later, was heading up her mum’s enterprise, Imprint Casts. “Mum sowed the seeds,” Katy laughs. “We have a strong bond because of everything we’ve been through, but she wanted this to be my journey. The garden is her passion.”
MASTER OF PLASTER
Casting is tricky, says Katy, because “there are lots of ways it can go wrong”. After choosing her flowers – fresh ones are best – Katy must prepare her clay. This involves flattening it with a rolling pin, making sure it is free of blemishes as well as air bubbles. Asnowdrop needs clay that’s about 2cm thick; a
