Every now and then a commission comes along that is really special. An idea that is not only right up my alley subject matter wise, but also has a beautiful story and meaning. This piece was one of those special ones and it has been a joy to work on from start to finish.

When Professor Sylvia Urban reached out to commission an artwork to celebrate her promotion to professor I was honoured to be asked to create something to celebrate such a momentous achievement. At the time I was snowed under with a long waitlist of commission projects and couldn’t take it on, but she patiently waited over 12 months until we were able to work together and I think it was worth the wait.

Sylvia had a few ideas to start with but we ended up focusing on a small but very beautiful seaweed species Laurencia elata. Sylvia had specifically researched this species and written several papers on this plant so it felt like the right one. Working from herbarium specimen imagery, I developed a design that enlarged this petite plant into an embroidered study focusing on it’s vibrant colours and delicate branching structure.

One element of this design with made it equally fun and challenging was the fact that many of the branches of the seaweed design I was making overlapped. This meant that I wasn’t able to stitch the design as a single piece, as I often do in my work, instead I had to stitch fourteen separate pieces then stitch them all together at the end prior to dissolving. It was super fiddly work but I was delighted with how it turned out.

I also loved the colours we used in this piece that faded from a soft peachy orange through to a deep maroon. Some colours in nature seem too beautiful to be real and I think this is one example of that. It was such a joy to work with these sunset hues.

A note from Sylvia:

I came across Meredith's work by chance on-line many years ago and then saw her featured work on television. I am inspired by nature as this is the kind of research I do as a natural product chemist. I immediately put myself on a waiting list to get an artwork commissioned by Meredith to celebrate my promotion to Professor - a huge milestone and accomplishment in my career. I worked with Meredith on some key concepts about commissioning an artwork to celebrate the science I have undertaken on Australian plants and marine algae. Originally, I was going to have two pieces created, but through a process of iteration, Meredith and I quickly concluded that one striking piece would be best and it would be on an Australian marine alga (seaweed) I had researched. This represented the study that led to one of my most significant discoveries in natural products chemistry.

I very much enjoyed working and meeting Meredith, to understand the process of how she creates her works and to witness her amazing creativity. I absolutely loved the videos she shared about the progress in the work, especially the dissolving process which was like "magic".

Meredith allowed me to provide feedback at any point and even added a last-minute suggestion to the piece that I came up with. When the artwork arrived, I was so excited to see it. It simply looks amazing. It will become a family heirloom with a dedication on the back of the work to celebrate my promotion. I hope my sons will honour this legacy piece and be proud of their mother and display this proudly into the future.

Meredith was truly collaborative and fantastic to work with. She was upfront and honest in being able to create a piece that would capture the subject best. I was grateful for that honest. She is truly a lovely person and a joy to work with.

I feel very proud every time I see the piece in my house and very glad that I patiently waited for Meredith's availability to commission this piece.

As I will be travelling to Newcastle early in the new year, I will think of Meredith and my forever piece that she so generously commissioned for me with the utmost of respect. I hope we can meet face to face so that I can personally thank her.

Professor Sylvia Urban

Commission slots are reopening in 2026

My commission books have been closed for the last few years as I have worked through a long waitlist. At one point there was three year wait on commissions, which still feels crazy to me. But I have been working hard to get through the list and I am now just finishing up the last few commissions. Thank you to everyone who has been waiting so patiently.

I’m excited to announce that I will be opening up a few new commissions slots in early 2026. So if you have been wanting to work with me to create a special custom artwork your chance is almost here. I will be announcing commission slot availabilities via my email list for anyone who is interested.