Herbology

Catherine Conway-Payne is the Course Director of the Diploma in Herbology at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Jacqui Pestell MBE is the Director of Botanical Illustration at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Jacqui trained initially in textiles in Nottingham and attained her post graduate qualification in Education at Goldsmiths in London. She began her career there in art and design in textiles and fashion along with developing art for advertising, marketing and publication, alongside mainstream teaching, before moving north to Edinburgh in 1997 becoming Artist in Residence at RBGE- from which point she broadened public and specialist participation in Botanical art at RBGE, eventually becoming Course Director in Botanical Art. In this process she devised and developed the Certificate and Diploma in Botanical Art courses at RBGE. Outside RBGE she is also an accomplished and commissioned botanical artist and illustrator in her own right and she has been passionate about drawing and painting plants for many years, enjoying teaching, tutoring, plus developing means to help others gain fulfilment in learning to see and record nature. Kasia Soltan is a food, drink and nature photographer based in the UK. Her work has been featured on BBC News, CNN, Forbes, The Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, CBS, displayed in several exhibitions, printed in albums, calendars, postcards as well as in private collections.