Botanical Plaster Casting with Erica Devine

Artist Erica Devine's preoccupation is the natural world. She seeks to capture its ephemeral beauty, intelligence and struggles: exquisitely unfurling fiddlehead ferns, sun-seeking leaves, the ragged profile of preying insects. She also explores personal themes of love, loss and life experience. Her medium is mineral: Gypsum /Plaster of Paris. Mixed with water and poured into voids once occupied by some wisteria, sun spurge or pheasant berry, it sets, warm to the touch. Expanding ever so slightly, the setting plaster captures the most infinitesimal botanical detail. Some casts call for colour, others for the play of light and shadow alone and yet others for the glorification of gilding. Each one is a living fossil recording the delicate architecture of the plant world that surrounds and sustains us. Get closer to nature with artist maker Erica Devine. Capture the beauty of the natural world by bringing home a piece of handmade botanical art from the garden county. In this workshop you will learn the process of pressing plants into clay, casting them in plaster and highlighting their delicate beauty with watercolour.