Sculpture Artist

About

I am a fine arts photographer and botanical artist based in Melbourne. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in New Zealand I spent 7 years living and exhibiting in Europe as a fine arts photographer. I continue to shoot black and white film when exploring the outdoors. Through a desire to create more “hands on” with nature I studied Certificate III Floristry and slowly formed my business ‘Nature Art by Elsa Thorp’. It is here that I merge the outdoors with indoors, creating unique Botanical Sculptures out of gathered and locally grown natural materials. I also create fresh flower and dried flower arrangements. I work with clients to design site specific pieces and hold workshops sharing my passion for nature and the benefits of hand making with natural materials to assist with wellbeing.

I have an online shop www.natureart.com.au I update regularly with new creations for sale and recent flower arrangement orders and experiments. Clients can order sculptures and flower arrangements from this website for themselves or as gifts for others. I also have Botanical Sculptures on display for sale in a few stores around Melbourne.

My fresh flower arrangements are created to order with unusual elements such as fruit branches, Artichoke flowers and Tulips with the bulb and roots still attached.  I do not buy imported flowers, instead I choose to buy what is in season and focus on supporting local Australian growers. I love to share the story of where the materials I create with have come from, where I found and gathered them, meeting with the Victorian flower growers and visiting their farms. When creating my designs I only use unaltered natural materials, so none are chemically treated (bleached) or dyed.  I work from a home studio and purchase for orders only, hand selecting every bunch of flowers and foliage to make sure I provide fresh quality and minimise waste.



ARTIST STATEMENT

I am deeply inspired by nature.  My creative drive comes from an endless fascination with nature and the therapeutic benefits of connecting with nature. I create handmade sculptures and arrangements using botanical materials in minimalist harmony giving focus to their texture and form.  I gather these materials and create in solitude observing and meditating on the beauty of nature, it is a spiritual process that merges the indoors and outdoors.  I am drawn to the unnoticed, the odd and unusual, the seedpods, the tendrils on vines and the everlasting beauty of dried flowers.