Using embroidery and carving as techniques, Hilary Waters Fayle transforms plant leaves into delicate but intricate works of art.

Fabric or leather embroidery is hard enough as it is, but can you imagine practicing it on dried plant leaves and actually creating something beautiful? That’s exactly what Hilary Waters Fayle, a talented artist based in Richmond, Virginia, is capable of, using only leaves, a small needle, some thread and mountains of patience. Although, it seems simplistic in nature, her botanical art is truly awe-inspiring and carries a very deep message.

Photo: Hilary Waters Fayle/Instagram

“I want to salvage and revive our connection to the natural world,” the artist writes. “I study rich hand craft traditions, using them in collaboration with found botanical and organic material. In this way, I symbolically bind nature and the human touch. Both tender and ruthless, this intricate and sensitive work implies that our relationship to nature is both tenuously fragile and infinitely complex.”

“There is so much to be said for the beauty of simplicity. When I make art, I strive to let the materials speak for themselves; sing their own praise. The natural objects I use catch my eye or my heart because they are already exquisite and unique. In transforming these objects, I’m always trying to augment and interact with the details I find most essential, never overpowering them,” she told Momentum Gallery.

This is just one of the many ways talented artists have used tree leaves as a medium over the years. A while back we featured the beautiful leaf carvings of Kanat Nurtazin, and the detailed tree paintings of Sandesh S. Rangnekar.