They have drawn on Australia’s unique desert plants and landscapes to raise awareness and understanding of their beauty, value and importance.

Their research began in the Red Centre Garden and drew on plant and seed specimens held in the Australian National Herbarium and National Seed Bank, and the library at the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

Recording and interpreting plants has been undertaken by artists in Australia for centuries, first by the indigenous people who lived here for 30,000 years before white settlement and as soon as white men set foot here.

Franzi was awarded a PhD in Visual Arts (Ceramics) from the ANU School of Art last year. She gained a BSc in 1985 and botanical research has been fundamental to her work. She represents flora, adapting aspects of relief printmaking methods on ceramic surfaces.

Often using tall, cylindrical porcelain forms, which could be seen as a tree trunk, Franzi depicts the slender needle-like flowers and leaves (although frequently they are phyllodes) of several species.

The images wrap around the textured surfaces of several works, or the smooth, deep green surfaces of others. The interiors of her works are glazed in the colours of the shrubs’ blooms.

A box in mountain ash by Ray Franzi contains six small, lidded pots for six Maireana species. Delicate drawings represent the blooms of the plants on the lids, and the pastel glazes in the interiors represent their colours. This is both a practical and beautiful work of art.

“Sturt’s Desert Rose” is a squat pot, with a textured white ground. The lilac or mauve petals surround the deep red centre and the interior is pale mauve.

Field is showing drawings in graphite and watercolour on paper and vellum. She chooses to represent all stages of the life of a flower or plant – “damaged, dying or dead, grub-eaten, broken and in others ways imperfect”, as Roy Forward has said.

These two local artists have worked together to create this outstanding exhibition which gives another perspective on the Red Centre Garden at the Botanic Gardens.

It helps to spark an awareness of the beauty and fragility of our natural environment. Recording and interpreting plants brings another level of consciousness to viewers.