Hazel Morris (21st June 1945 - 30th January 2020)

It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of Hazel Forsyth Morris who passed away peacefully this morning in St Columba’s Hospice. 

Hazel had been unwell for sometime.  She was positive about her illness and determined to carry on with as much of her life as possible, without sharing her anxieties with others. 

Hazel was a founder member of the SSBA in 2014 and became a Trustee and Director. She was the first Chairperson, a role that she undertook for four years with dedication and pride.  She continued contributing to the SSBA as a Director and Trustee during 2019.

Her major contribution was the establishment of the SSBA annual exhibitions through her Chairing and co-ordination of the Exhibitions Committee.  Most recently in November 2019 Hazel was pleased to be asked to present Mary O’Neill with the ‘People’s Award’ from the Whitehouse Gallery Exhibition.  An exhibition that was a result of Hazel's hard work and negotiations. 

Hazel is known to many Botanical Artists whom she met at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and classes held by Fiona and Robert McNeill.  She also met many international artists through her work with the BISCOT committee that she joined in 2010 and was latterly the artist's contact person. She always acknowledged that she learnt so much about exhibiting from her BISCOT colleagues and friends.

Hazel loved snowdrops and tulips so I thought I would share with you her painting of a snowdrop that has been on the SSBA web site for some time. 

Hazel on Hazel - her SSBA profile ​ You can see Hazel's profile in relation to her botanical art on the  SSBA website. You can read what she has to say about herself and her botanical art below. The image at the top of this post is of Hazel at the Callander Park exhibition where her iris painting was 'Commended'.

I began my adult working life as a Home Economics teacher, and painted in watercolours, mainly landscapes, as a hobby and a way of relaxing.

After marrying, I accompanied my civil engineer husband as he worked mainly abroad, making homes and living in a number of countries in the Far East before returning to the UK to care for elderly parents. It was only after these family commitments were discharged that I was able to start thinking about taking up painting again.

I had been very interested in botanical painting for a number of years, influenced mainly, I think, by the work of Elizabeth Blackadder whose botanical paintings I saw regularly in Festival art exhibitions, and was fascinated by, complete with coffee stains, obvious alterations, and other marks on them; and yet, the marks somehow far from detracting, seemed to add to their artistic integrity.

However, it was only after picking up a booklet for educational courses at the RBGE that the possibility of studying this fascinating and complex form of art became a reality. I have now been painting botanical art for about nine years and attend Fiona Strickland’s class weekly.

In 2010 I was asked to join the committee of Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT) and this has afforded me the opportunity of seeing at first hand, some of the best and most original work being created in botanical illustration today.

Snakes Head Fritillaries by Hazel Morris

Hazel centre back of Fiona Strickland's Botanical Art Ladies in the weekly class at Falkirk

Hazel Morris - drawing a specimen in her sketchbook in class

Mally Francis with her painting of Babington’s Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var.babingtonii) at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 (12 July 2018)

Mally Francis - a Timeline in Botanical Art
​

She was a particularly lovely person and always very kind. I have known her for well over 30 years. She started botanical painting with me at the Leicester college and became a member of the LSBI. She also attended many of my Summer Schools at Market Overton. She then moved to Cornwall and started teaching but we kept in contact and I have always heard particularly flattering comments about her teaching. I am sure that all who had the privilege of knowing her will miss her
Anne-Marie Evans

The Studio was originally built about 250 years ago as the Sawpit for the Heligan estate when logs were dragged in by a horse and then cut into planks and beams by two men using a pit saw. One above, standing on the log (the top-dog) and the other below in the pit, covered in sweat and sawdust, (the under-dog).
When we bought The Wagon House in 1997 the Sawpit had become a ruin with only two cob walls standing and the brick piers opposite to support the roof.
In 1999 we commenced the restoration and it came into full use as our studio early in 2000. The Sawpit, thirty feet long and six feet deep still remains beneath the floor as a little piece of Heligan history. 
Nowadays, the Sawpit is in full time use again, either for the Botanical Painting classes or as a Photographic Studio. A collection of old saws are attached to the roof beams.

My teaching philosophy is to encourage all students to develop their own skills to the highest level possible. There is never any competition in my classes and everyone can work at their own pace. The courses are always enjoyable and old friends meet each other year after year as they return to continue their studies. Everyone has their own aspirations and it gives me great pleasure to help them to achieve their own goals.
Mally Francis (in Mally Francis Paints the Lost Gardens of Heligan
February 1, 2011 by Tania Marien)

a still from the video about her botanical painting classes at the Wagon House

The Florilegium was the inspiration of Mally Francis FCPGFS, FEPFS who founded the Society in 2000, and was its Chairman from 2001 to 2012. Mally stepped down in January 2012, and was made Honorary Founder Chairman of the Society, and a Fellow of The Linnean Society in recognition of her contributions to world of Botanical Illustration and Botany.
Eden Project Florilegium Society

'Her work is intense as well as being decorative and scientifically accurate"
James White - Past Curator of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

Jessica Tcherepnine - at the Artists Reception for the 25th Anniversary Exhibition for the Shirley Sherwood Collection

Her artistic practice

Margaret Stones AM OBE GM (1920-2018)
​

Margaret Stones is a Botanical Artist renowned for her taxonomical accuracy.
Encyclopedia of Australian Science 

Pandora enjoyed a great relationship with her and shared with me how incredible she was. An inspiration to botanical artists everywhere.
Margaret Best

Margaret Stones - pictured on 13 March 2003 at the "Imperial Honours" Exhibition at Melbourne University, just after her return to Australia | Courtesy of The Australian Women's Register

Early life in Australia

A new career and a new life at Kew Gardens