‘A materials person with a nature fixation’

Formally trained in natural history and scientific illustration and later Botanical art, in 2024 I decided to combine my love of nature with my love for material experimentation and I now work predominantly in plaster, finishing it in unique natural dry pigments, Fumage (flame applied soot), and paint washes. I create pieces that feel both unearthed and preserved, capturing fragile moments that might otherwise disappear.

 

Pushing the boundaries with plaster through a process called Bas-relief, an ancient process which seems to have been forgotten. I use this process to capture detail and then push further with the material to capture unseen detail, and also allowing detail to remain hidden, focusing strongly on composition, constantly considering the message the piece gives the viewer, be it a place of peace, a place of further understanding or a hidden link to the natural world and its conservation.

 

My work is rooted in the surrounding landscape of my studio in Suffolk, UK. Inspiration comes from estuary mudflats, meadows and the wildlife that shares it, my practice is often shaped by natural processes such as erosion, growth, decay, weathering and the seasons, and lately the more volatile process of ‘wildfire’

 

My past work has drawn on historical interior themes inspired by the faded grandeur of country houses, palaces, sacred spaces, and architectural fragments. Looking closely at ancient decorative plasterwork, aged surfaces, and imagined histories, these pieces evoke the atmosphere of lost interiors and forgotten rooms and can be found through Red Dot gallery Holt.

 

My main body of current work looks closely at delicate and transient forms. Often executed outside using mud and sand as a canvas —wings, feathers, animal tracks, seed heads, fragments of plant life, and architectural impressions—holding them in a state between presence and absence.

 

I hope my work invites a slower way of looking—an attention to detail, material, and the quiet beauty of what remains. When people stop and ‘lean in’ thats the motivation for me to continue pushing forward.

 

I have just returned from being a finalist in the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the year awards 2026 with my work on the Common Buzzard and received the highly coveted ‘Highly commended award’ from the judges of this important global competition. 

 

I also teach my artform at RHS and National trust sites, Cambridge University botanical gardens and venues throughout East Anglia, bookings can be made at Rebecca Rix-Meo

 

(I am also the great-great-granddaughter of Gaetano Meo (1849–1925), the Italian-British artist, mosaicist and craftsman associated with the Pre-Raphaelite circle. While my practice is distinctly contemporary, it continues a family legacy of craftsmanship through historic decorative techniques.)