Floral artist flowers first solo show

BOTANICAL artist Catherine Freemantle hopes to evoke profound memories for attendees of her new exhibition on show at the Old Butchers Shop Gallery.

“The aim is to celebrate seasonal flowers and hydrangeas are the flower of choice,” she said.

“A seasonal flower will evoke memories of say, a birthday, a passing, a wedding, that sort of thing.

“For me, hydrangeas remind me of my grandparents’ garden in Tasmania; they had a beautiful property out there where that type of flower was just wild.

“It brings back memories of them for me, and the beautiful gardens I grew up near in Willaura. They take me back to my youth and familiar friends and family.”

Titled Bunches of Blooms-Hydie, the collection features 22 acrylic and oil paintings with a particular focus on hydrangeas.

The Tasmanian oak frames are a happy coincidence for Freemantle given her familial connection to the state.

A florist and horticulturalist for about three decades, Freemantle has spent her career arranging flowers at venues like Government House and for private gardens, weddings, and parties at Melbourne.

While at Burnley Horticultural College in the early 2000s, she translated her passion into botanical art.

“I’ve been a maker all my life but the visual arts thing did become more important then,” she said. “I learned what botanical illustration means and how we identify plants through drawing.

“That art of studying the plant in depth, my love of painting flowers and plants came from that time.”

After about 20 years featuring in group shows, Freemantle’s current exhibition is her first solo foray.

“It’s very exciting and it’s challenged me because you don’t have the support of other people’s works around you,” she said.

“I’m very proud of what I’ve been able to achieve and to fill this space. It’s a bit nerve wracking but it was time, in my mind, to get out there and do it and be proud of what I can create.”

Bunches of Blooms-Hydie is on show now until 27 October.

Freemantle will be present at the gallery each weekend from 1pm to 4pm until the exhibition’s end.