University: Open College of the Arts
Graduation Year: 2024
Felicity Talman’s work embodies a deep connection between nature and the human experience, drawing on her personal surroundings to create pieces that resonate with a sense of place and time. Working from a conservatory studio that opens onto a lush, ever-changing garden, Talman finds inspiration in the overlooked beauty of decaying or dried plants. Her practice is anchored in the tactile immediacy of soft pastels, a medium that mirrors the organic qualities of her subjects. The pigments and clay binder she uses form a natural link to the earth, while the dust produced in the process recalls the delicate presence of pollen—a fitting parallel to the fragility of her chosen forms.
Talman’s exploration of control—both its application and its surrender—is central to her artistic process. Like a gardener who shapes the land through planting and pruning, she carefully composes her works over time, capturing suspended moments that reveal nature’s constant evolution. Yet, her work also embraces the uncontrollable forces of nature, reflecting the unpredictability and transience of life itself.
In her pieces, Talman invites viewers to pause and consider the beauty of what is often unseen—the cycles of life and decay. Her work challenges traditional notions of the garden as a purely cultivated, controlled space by exploring themes of deterioration and change. These reflections, influenced by her rural surroundings and life on a smallholding, provide a contemplative space for viewers to engage with the natural world’s quieter, often overlooked transformations. Her art is a dialogue with nature, revealing the complex, delicate interplay between vitality and fragility
My studio space is a conservatory attached to the back of our family home, opening onto an enclosed garden nestled within our smallholding. My art practice, like my studio, is directly connected to family life and the experience of living immersed in nature. The vibrant and continually shifting garden is a constant source of inspiration for my work, with overlooked or decaying plants frequently becoming my subject matter.
The close connection I feel to both my subject and media is vital to my practice. Soft pastels provide an immediacy and tactility often mirrored in the subjects I choose to depict. The pastel medium also offers interesting parallels with nature; the pigments and clay binder share a close relationship to the earth, and the dust produced during my drawing process is reminiscent of pollen.
Control, or the relinquishing of it, significantly influences the outcomes of my work. Similar to a gardener who attempts to control the garden by planting, trimming, and weeding—inevitably creating a work of composition—the majority of my work requires high levels of control and concentration. The work evolves over a period of time, from days to weeks. Similarly, the garden is never static, changing and developing with each passing moment.
I am interested in capturing a suspended moment in time through my work while simultaneously highlighting the transience of time. My work frequently explores the process of decay and deterioration, investigating and challenging conventional notions of beauty and the concept of the garden as a man-made or artificial space. Giovanni Aloi writes, "decay is the aesthetic dimension external to the garden" (2019), highlighting the common belief that decay negatively impacts the garden's visual appeal. Living in a rural farming area, my family is surrounded by decay and inevitable death, themes that are often avoided. My work offers contemplation of these themes, both for me as the artist during the sustained drawing process and for viewers engaging with the work.
My work is not just a reflection of the garden but an ongoing dialogue with it, embracing its vitality, deterioration, and unpredictability. Through this dialogue, I explore the intertwined cycles of life and decay, revealing the beauty in these moments. My work is an invitation to pause and witness the subtle, often unnoticed transformations that shape the garden, and to reconsider our relationship with nature.
(2024) Pastel Society 125th Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
(2024) Finding Place, Ancient Priors, Crawley
(2024) Summer Exhibition, Crawley Library, Crawley
(2022) 6th Annual Pure Color International Juried Exhibition of Pastel Paintings, Pastel Society of North Carolina, (Online)
(2020) SAA Artists of the Year Best Young Still Life
(2020) SAA Artists of the Year Best Young Animal/Wildlife