Laurie Kaplowitz

How would you describe your work?

I'm a two-dimensional artist working in painting and drawing - sometimes separately, sometimes combined. I’m classically trained, and have always placed the human figure at the centre of my work, using it to explore why we're here, our place in the world, and our history and culture.

How do you make your pieces? Could you talk us through how you use botanical materials in your work?

I originally painted flora and fauna as subject matter to adorn the human figure. Adornment was a major theme for me, drawn from years of travel and watching indigenous cultures - people getting up in the morning and painting half their face yellow, the other half black, before going to market. In the Western world we might think that's strange, until we realise we do the same thing: I got up this morning, put on mascara, fixed my hair.

Adornment goes back thousands of years, and it's always signified social standing. Today we see it in every shape and category - tattoos, piercings, all of it. So I used flowers, leaves, small animals like birds, the way I'd seen other cultures use them to adorn. Then, little by little, as I travelled, I'd pick up specimens and bring them back to my studio. Bit by bit, I started collaging them onto my paintings, and that grew into a process that became a major part of the composition.

It must be a sensory experience working with plants. Could you describe it for us?

One of my first instincts when I see something is to pick a leaf or a little blossom, and rub it between my fingers to see what it smells like. Having built up a collection over the years - a kind of inventory - it's wonderful to find something in my file box, take it out, and smell it again. It's not the same odour it had when it was alive, but it triggers something, makes you take a deep breath, and in the middle of winter it can bring back a meadow, or somewhere you were when you smelled freshly mown grass.

How does Boston's urban environment inspire you?

Boston is a very green city. It has lots of small public parks, plus the Public Garden, one of the oldest in the country. It's also a coastal city, with the ocean on one side and the beautiful Charles River running through it, full of boats. All of that is visually striking and architecturally inspiring.

The history runs deep too, back to the 1700s and earlier: it has the largest surviving Victorian neighbourhood in the country, alongside plenty of interesting contemporary architecture. Taken together, all of that provides constant stimulation. And it's wonderfully walkable - I don't need a car. From where I live, I can walk to museums, the harbour, libraries, and the city's many universities.

Where else do you find your inspiration?

My husband and I travel a lot, and we try to go to off-the-beaten-track places. We also choose trips around art: paintings I've wanted to see for years and only ever seen in books. We just got back from a month in Milan - I'd been to Italy many times, but neither of us had been to Milan before, and the art there is wonderful, always inspiring.

About six months ago we did a trip to Patagonia and Easter Island. Easter Island, beyond the famous stone heads, which were amazing in themselves, is just a gorgeous place - green, volcanic, with herds of beautiful wild horses running free. Pretty incredible.

What is your favourite scent?

I like lemon and cardamom, and I love herbs; the scent of a lot of herbs really appeals to me. In terms of florals, though, Milan had a lot going on - large jasmine bushes planted along the city streets. That smell can be overpowering at times, but other times you just love it wafting all over the place.