Remembering Mally Francis FLS FEPFS FCPGFS

Mally Francis FLS FEPFS FCPGFS, the Cornish based botanical artist, illustrator and tutor and Founder Chairman of the Eden Project Florilegium Society, died on Saturday 13th April 2019 after a short illness.

This post remembers Mally and her achievements.  It contains

• a timeline of her life in botanical art
• a video of Mally talking about botanical painting and
• references to her artwork, articles about her and a book she illustrated.

I last saw Mally at the Royal Horticultural Society Botanical Art Show last summer.  She was there supporting both Laura Silburn who was taught botanical painting by Mally and the Association of British Botanical Artists' stand. Her fabulous painting of 'Babington's Leek' was displayed on the stand and attracted the attention of Shirley Sherwood who bought it - hence the red spot!

Indeed I first heard about Mally Francis at the 2013 RHS Botanical Art Show when I met Laura Silburn for the first time and interviewed her for my Gold Medal Winner Interviews. She told me what an inspiration Mally was to her and what an excellent teacher she was.

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
​

1946 - born in Yorkshire

1967 - qualified as a speech and language therapist in Edinburgh

1988 - started to learn about botanical art; studied with Anne-Marie Evans in Leicestershire - and followed her principals for all her artwork and teaching

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

​1996 - moved from Leicester to Cornwall

2000 - started her botanical painting classes at her Sawpit Studio

2001 - Founded the Eden Project Florilegium Society

2012 - Made a Fellow of the Linnean Society for her contribution to botanical art.

Below is the story of what happened during those years....

Mally and her husband Charles, a photographer, moved to the Heligan Estate and embarked on their joint creative endeavour. Here they

• renovated the Wagon House - eventually creating accommodation for their students
• rebuilt the derelict sawpit, creating the Sawpit Studio for botanical painting and as a photographic studio.

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.

TEACHING:  Mally ran her botanical painting courses in the Sawpit Studios from 2000 - until just recently.  She also taught botanical art classes at the Eden Project, the Bath Society, the South West Society, Stourhead, Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, Truro Arts, Boconnoc House and Trengwainton Gardens in Cornwall.

She tutored artists ranging from complete beginners through to advanced levels - with two artists awarded Gold Medals in recent years by the RHS. ​​She was the sole tutor of Laura Silburn who has now won three RHS gold medals and who credits Mally Francis with her involvement in botanical art. 

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

GARDENS AND PLANTS: Their life was intertwined with two major garden projects in Cornwall largely created by Sir Tim Smit KBE

• The Lost Gardens of Heligan - they lived on the Estate
• The Eden Project - a 20 minute drive away

The connections were intrinsic to communicating the structures and plants in both locations.

• Tim Smit asked Mally to illustrate Heligan Wild: A Year of Nature in the Lost Gardens  (1999) a book about the Lost Gardens of Heligan. She also illustrated Heligan Days - A Perpetual Diary (2005) 
• Charles was the official photographer of the Eden Project (1997-1984) - while it was being built

EDEN PROJECT FLORILEGIUM SOCIETY: Mally founded the Eden Project Florilegium Society (EPFS) in 2000 and became its first Chairman of  in 2001 - and held that position until 2012 when she retired and was made the Honorary Founder Chairman of EPFS.
​
​She provided tuition and inspiration to two-thirds of the artists whose work features in the Eden Project Florilegium. She also organised many exhibitions of artwork by her students and members of the EPFS.

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

RECOGNITION: In 2012, on her retirement from being Chairman of the Eden Project Florilegium Society she was made an Honorary Founder Member of the EPFS and a Fellow of the Linnean Society for her contribution to botanical art. She was also a member of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society.

More recently, her painting of Babington’s Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var. babingtonii) was a feature image for "In Ruskin's Footsteps" at the Peter Scott Gallery at Lancaster University in May 2018 - the UK contribution to the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art organised by the Association of British Botanical Artists. Below are links to articles discussing the development of the artwork.

It was also displayed at the RHS Botanical Art Show (see my photo at the top of this post) and was bought by Shirley Sherwood for her collection.

Below is a video Mally Francis talking about the difference between flower painting and botanical painting - and why everybody can have a go at creating botanical art.

Mally Francis died on Saturday 13th April and leaves a husband Charles, two  daughters and four grandsons.

She also leaves a legacy in terms of the interest and competence in botanical art she stimulated in very many of her students - in Cornwall and around the world - and her paintings in her studio, private collections and the archives of two Florilegia Societies.

Please feel free to add your own comment about and/or memories of Mally Francis via comments below.

FUNERAL DETAILS
Her funeral will be at 14:00 on Friday 3 May, at All Saints church, St Ewe, Cornwall. (Google Map)

REFERENCES

Obituary

• Mally Francis FLS, FCPGFS 1946 - 2019 | ABBA

Titles, Memberships and Roles

• Fellow of the Linnean Society.
• Honorary Founder Chairman of the Eden Project Florilegium Society (2001-2012)
• Fellow of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society.
• Eden Project Botanical Art tutor

Mall Francis Online

• Website: https://mallyfrancis.com/
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mally.botanicalartist/ 
• Twitter https://twitter.com/mally_francis
• Eden Project Florilegium Society - About Us

Paintings for the Eden Project Florilegium Society

• Paintings by Mally Francis

Articles / Blog posts

• How to illustrate a six-foot-tall-plant – a master class! | Eden Project Florilegium Society
• Babington’s Leek – Mally Francis ABBA Blog
• Mally Francis is "Remembering Heligan" BAA Blog
• Mally Francis Paints the Lost Gardens of Heligan by Tania Merian | Art Plantae

Books

• Heligan Wild: A Year of Nature in the Lost Gardens (1999) - by Colin Howlett (Author), Mally Francis (Illustrator), Angus Hudson (Illustrator), Tim Smit (Introduction)
• Heligan Days - A Perpetual Diary (2005) - illustrated by Mally Francis

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