2026 plant portrait – hibiscus heterophyllus
‘call & response’ exhibition – about the works
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Vegetation room
• Map – 1878 hot-air balloon view of West Maitland, 2026
A textile response to Walter Cracknell’s 1878 engraving ‘West Maitland, N.S.W. and its Leading Commercial Buildings’, originally published in the Illustrated Sydney News. It depicts Maitland from a hot-air balloon view looking east towards the coast and the Stockton sand dunes.
threads, pen, fabric paint on linen
95cm h x 170cm w
Work in progress, Jane Richens, 2026
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• Map – Vegetation around Bo-un, 2026
This textile map reimagines the landscape around Bo-un (Maitland), on the Coquon (Hunter River) in Wonnarua Country, before extensive clearing by timber getters and European settlement. Using the same bird’s-eye perspective as the 1878 hot-air balloon view of West Maitland, it reconstructs pre-clearing vegetation from ecological mapping data. Tufted and progged textile forms represent rainforest, wetland and grassy forest communities, revealing ecosystems that once flourished where Maitland now stands.
Vegetation types data from: ‘Trees near me NSW’ • ‘Pre-clearing’
• Lower Hunter Tuckeroo Riparian Rainforest
• Southern Lower Floodplain Freshwater Wetland
• Hunter Coast Foothills Spotted Gum-Ironbark Grassy Forest
wool, mixed threads, rag clips (mixed textiles), fabric paint on monk cloth
Work in progress, Jane Richens, 2026
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• Vitrine – Hibiscus heterophyllus stems, 2026
Emerging from a timber base, textile stems of Hibiscus heterophyllus respond to the Victorian botanical wool-work vitrine in the Grossmann House collection. The work acknowledges women’s contributions to botanical observation and scientific inquiry through textile practice during the nineteenth century, reimagining these traditions with contemporary millinery techniques using silk, thread, wire and mixed textiles.
Hibiscus heterophyllus, commonly known as ‘native rosella’, is a small to medium rainforest-edge species recognised for its distinctive variable foliage (one to five lobed), large white flowers with delicate magenta edges and deep crimson centres and prickled stems. Each flower opens for just a single day, offering nectar and pollen to a range of insects before fading. These brief but abundant blooms support native bees, beetles and other insect pollinators, which play a vital role in the reproduction and resilience of rainforest plants and ecosystems.
Hibiscus heterophyllus is found on the margins of our rainforest. It is an excellent pioneer species for rainforest restoration work. It is often among the first to return where rainforest has been disturbed, its vigorous growth creating shelter for slower-growing species that follow. In open ground it gathers light, moisture and life, helping to rebuild the conditions needed for regeneration. Its fleeting flowers feed pollinating insects, while its presence marks the beginning of the forest’s gradual return.
silk, mixed textiles, threads, wire on timber base
Jane Richens, 2026
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• Victorian botanical wool-work vitrine, 1880 – Grossmann House collection
This Victorian botanical vitrine, created by Mrs Woods of West Wallsend in 1880, reflects the nineteenth-century tradition of crafting lifelike botanical studies in textiles. Arranged beneath a glass dome, the wool flowers and foliage reveal how decorative arts also served as a means of recording and appreciating the natural world. The work provided a key point of reference for this exhibition’s contemporary response.
wool, wire, glass dome, timber base
Mrs Woods, 1880
Grossmann House Collection
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• Tesselated landscape, 2025
Punch-needle aerial view of vegetation dispersal across terrains and geometry of arbitrary land division.
embroidery threads on linen mounted on timber
Jane Richens, 2025
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Garment room
• Portrait of Mary Owens (Capper), c1870 – Grossmann House collection
This intimate watercolour portrait of Mary Owen (Capper), daughter of the family who built Brough House, inspired the sculptural garment in this exhibition. Its tiered and stacked puff sleeves, ruffled collar, belt buckle and finely observed dress details became the starting point for a contemporary textile response.
Watercolour on paper
Unknown artist, c1870
Grossmann House Collection
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• Life-sized garment
Inspired by a small watercolour portrait of Mary Owen (Capper) in the Grossmann House collection, this life-sized garment reimagines Victorian dress through the fibres of Hibiscus heterophyllus (native rosella). Jane has hand-processed the bast fibre—the strong fibres found beneath a plant’s bark—and formed it into sculptural elements, its natural stiffness echoing the structured silhouettes of 19th-century fashion. A Lobster Tail hoop frame of hibiscus stems supports the bustle, while silk organza softens the form.
Details throughout reference the Harlequin bug (Dindymus versicolor), a pollinator and herbivore of native rosella, connecting clothing, insects and local rainforest ecology.
Front overskirt: lines reflect the body of the bug
Brooch: Dindymus versicolor
Belt buckle: Dindymus versicolor eggs
Hibiscus heterophyllus bast fibre, silk organza, threads, wire, heritage mannequin
Jane Richens, 2026
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• photographic works
Ilford smooth cotton rag 320gsm mounted on foam core
Ruffled collar
Collar with double ruffles made of Hibiscus heterophyllus bast fibre. Work in progress documentation.
Photograph in heritage frame
Lobster tail prototype #1
First prototype of the lobster tail frame – based on a traditional support from the late Victorian period for a bustle. Frame created using cane and mixed materials. Work in progress documentation.
Stacked puff sleeve prototype
Paper and cardboard prototype for the upper stacked puff sleeves. Work in progress documentation.
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• video portrait – Hibiscus heterophyllus
Hibiscus heterophyllus footage from seed to garment
video, sound
Jane Richens, 2026
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Upstairs – studio for Artist in Residence, Fibre Makers Space
• studio workings – prototypes, maps, reference documents & materials
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2026 Artist in Residence, Fibre Makers Space, Brough House
For the first half of 2026, Jane was Artist in Residence at the Fibre Makers Space in Maitland, where she was exploring intersections between textile practice, rainforest botany and the historic collection of Grossmann House (part of the National Trust – Grossmann & Brough Houses). Her research drew on local plant knowledge and material experimentation, focusing particularly on bast fibre from Hibiscus heterophyllus cultivated on her property.
The residency culminates in the exhibition ‘call & response’ – 3 July to 2 August 2026. It features a suite of new works, including a full-scale sculptural garment based on a Victorian silhouette, constructed from hand-processed rainforest fibre; and rainforest flower and leaf forms made using millinery techniques to form a ‘vitrine’ based on a historical item in the collection.
There are Open Studio Days – 8 March through to 26 May – most Mondays & Tuesdays 10-3.
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Hibiscus heterophyllus
Hibiscus heterophyllus, commonly known as ‘native rosella’, is a small to medium rainforest-edge species recognised for its distinctive variable foliage (one to five lobed), large white flowers with delicate magenta edges and deep crimson centres and prickled stems. Each flower opens for just a single day, offering nectar and pollen to a range of insects before fading. These brief but abundant blooms support native bees, beetles and other insect pollinators, which play a vital role in the reproduction and resilience of rainforest plants and ecosystems.
Hibiscus heterophyllus is found on the margins of our rainforest. It is an excellent pioneer species for rainforest restoration work. It is often among the first to return where rainforest has been disturbed, its vigorous growth creating shelter for slower-growing species that follow. In open ground it gathers light, moisture and life, helping to rebuild the conditions needed for regeneration. Its fleeting flowers feed pollinating insects, while its presence marks the beginning of the forest’s gradual return.
Experiments with Hibiscus heterophyllus bast fibre – weaving, sewing, paper making
Preparing Hibiscus heterophyllus for fibre – felling, debarking, removing the top layer of bark, retting (soaking in water for a few weeks – getting those bioenxymes to breakdown the pectin, lignen and hemicellulose).
Scraping the outer layer of bark exposes the periderm layer which is the layer that is used for fibre – bast fibre.
Retting & revealing the bast fibre
Below: past weaving – the fibre is very long and strong. Looking forward to more fibre experimentation.
Hibiscus heterophyllus is a local small tree that is found on the margins of our rainforest. It is an excellent pioneer species for rainforest restoration work.
