{"id":5447,"date":"2026-04-06T06:41:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=5447"},"modified":"2026-04-06T06:41:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T13:41:34","slug":"hillary-waters-fayle-creates-portraits-of-place-from-seeds-foliage-and-petals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=5447","title":{"rendered":"Hillary Waters Fayle Creates \u2018Portraits of Place\u2019 from Seeds, Foliage, and Petals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hillary<\/p>\n

When we think of somewhere we\u2019ve been, what are the first things to come to mind? Perhaps there are memorable smells, a sense of other people being around, or a particular quality of light. But what if we remembered landscapes and experiences through plants? For Hillary Waters Fayle<\/a>, flower petals, seeds, and foliage combine into a kind of album of various places, which she then uses to create bold cyanotypes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The artist has long worked with botanicals and other organic materials, notably embroidering foraged leaves<\/a> and feathers with meticulous geometric designs. With the series Portraits of Place, <\/em>which she\u2019s been pursuing for the past six years, Fayle precisely arranges individual petals and leaves into intricate, symmetrical, mandala-like compositions on acrylic.<\/p>\n

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She starts by collecting and drying botanicals from specific locations, such as Grace Farms Foundation in New Canaan, Connecticut, or Maymont Park in Richmond, Virginia. These are then laid onto watercolor paper that\u2019s been painted with UV-sensitive iron salts. After being left out in the sun, these result in the bright blue cyanotypes that chronicle the outlines\u2014perhaps one could even say the spirit\u2014of the distinctive layouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way these portraits illustrate a very particular place and time via botany can be a way to define the relationship that the people of that place have with the land\u2014almost like a modern-day florilegium<\/a>,\u201d Fayle tells Colossal. She continues:<\/p>\n

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All of these pieces are so different and special to me, but it has been particularly meaningful to make portraits of areas that are going to change drastically in the near future, either from development or rising sea levels, fire, etc. It feels like a way of preserving and honoring the land and all that is present there right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Flowers and plants symbolize the natural evolution of particular spaces, such as a gardener adding new bulbs or birds depositing seeds. They symbolize the nature of seasons and life cycles, emphasizing a relationship that is simultaneously enduring and ephemeral. See more on the artist\u2019s Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Chisman Creek Park, Tidewater, Virginia (detail)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Hillary Waters Fayle Creates \u2018Portraits of Place\u2019 from Seeds, Foliage, and Petals<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we think of somewhere we\u2019ve been, what are the first things to come to mind? Perhaps there are memorable smells, a sense of other people being around, or a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}