In this episode, I talk with natural plant dye artist, Flora Arbuthnott. We discuss her fascination with using wild plants to create beautiful art and how the practice of gathering nurtures creativity and wellbeing.
Show notes
- Flora website: Plants and Colour
- Find Flora on Instagram: @plants_and_colour
About Flora Arbuthnott
Flora Arbuthnott. Flora came to this practice through a desire to connect with the land. Working with plants such as camellia and buddleia flowers, oak galls, and dock roots, or growing dye plants in her garden such as madder, woad, and coreopsis. Creating drawings, paintings, and prints as one-off explorations of plant-based surface application bringing together natural dyeing, ink and paint making, and printmaking.
Growing up in the countryside in Gloucestershire, Flora was taught to paint and print by her mother as a child. Following a degree in product design at Glasgow School of Art, she sought to reconnect with her family roots in textiles and printmaking, as well as with the natural raw elements of where materials come from. She was drawn to Devon to study permaculture (Earth Activist Training), horticulture (Schumacher College), and wild plants (Ffyona Campbell & Rhizome).
Flora’s interest in plants and fungi go beyond colour. She is committed to living and working in rhythm with the seasons, the foraging and growing food, dyes, and medicines.