Sugar is treated as the enemy these days in terms of health, but in the hands of a skilled artist like Whanganui's Tracy Byatt, it can also be used to sculpt extraordinarily colourful and lifelike bouquets. This artistic sugar hit was wildly popular back in the European Renaissance when ornate centrepieces were sculpted for royal banquets. Even Da Vinci gave it a go apparently. Tracy Byatt is about to put her own mini-masterpieces on show, but she says she has the same arch-enemies sugar artists had centuries ago - dampness, humidity, fragility and bees. Tracey's show is called The Pattillo Project 2021 and they combine to offer an Impossible bouquet. It's made from 22 different types of flowers, each one individually and painstakingly crafted from sugar. Lynn Freeman asked Tracy Byatt about the history of sugar art.