For the past 10 years my work has
largely involved private commissions from individuals, museums and
institutions; and by invitation from the Artists for Nature Foundation (ANF) I
have participated in international art events and exhibitions in USA, France, Holland, Spain, Poland, Ecuador and Peru. In the UK I have contributed work
to a number of group exhibitions and have undertaken a range of solo commercial
gallery shows.
Prior to that a lot of my work was
largely as a freelance illustrator on a wide range of natural history books, magazines and journals, including writing and illustrating An Artist on
Migration, one chapter of which -
centered in West Africa - was subsequently filmed and shown on BB2
television in a programme (Beyond Timbuctu)
that I presented. Other
illustrations were for Rare Mammals of the World and the Gem Guide to Zoo
Animals. Throughout that time I
continued to exhibit larger fine art works when the opportunities arose.
As well as painting and printmaking,
early projects involved filming in Antarctica as director-cameraman on
an idea developed in collaboration with a friend and colleague into a
documentary programme (The Private Life of the Fur Seal) subsequently shown on BBC1 television. A second programme (The 150 Millon Tonne Shrimp) telling a more complex
Antarctic story was shown on BBC2 television two years later. Following the success of the programmes I was
commissioned by Channel 4 Television to write and present the six part
Birdscape series about a range of British landscapes and the lives of some of
the birds, and some of the people associated with them.
My studio is now filled as with huge
numbers of drawings, paintings, notebooks, and sketches reflecting visits over
many years to the Arctic and Antarctica, Africa, many countries and
regions of Europe, the Caribbean, and North and South America. There are still opportunities to travel and
find new ideas, see new species and experience different landscapes. But over the last few years the obsessive
urge to head off into the field at every opportunity has transferred itself
into an equally strong desire to work in the studio, searching instead through
the accumulated volumes of creative debris for fresh starting points. It is incredibly exciting drawing new
inspiration out of old experiences, seeing new forms coming to life from half-forgotten
ideas. Working away from the subject
there is always the hope that imagination collaborates more with memory,
representation and abstraction collude, and pure observation combines much more
with raw sensation to produce a different kind of art. Lofty ideals and objectives indeed(!), but
after almost 30 years as a professional artist, creatively - these are the most
exciting times of all.
2009 (March) Participation in Artists for Nature (ANF) project in Hula Valley, Israel
2008 Exhibition (May), Recent Work Pinkfoot Gallery, Norfolk
Exhibition (November), Wildluife Art GAllery, Lavenham, Suffolk
2007 Exhibition, Recent Work, Westcliffe Gallery, Sheringham, Norfolk,UK
2006 Exhibition An Tallag Dearg Gallery, Isle of Skye
Commission to complete fourteen paintings for Sultan of Oman
2005 Commissioned
to complete twelve paintings for Sultan of Oman
Winner, GMAC
Commercial Mortgage Europe Art Award, (SWLA London)
2004 External
Examiner, Royal College of Art (Communication
Art and Design)
2003 Invitation
to participate in art project undertaken in the Tumbesian region on the borders of Ecuador and Peru;
included as of a group of artists invited from
6 countries by Artists for Nature Foundation (ANF)
Visiting
lecturer, Royal College of Art (Communication Art and Design)
In a New Light, solo exhibition, Wildlife Art Gallery, Lavenham, Suffolk
Publication of In a New Light, a personal book looking at
the contemporary and earlier work as an artist
Selected for inclusion in
Birds in Art exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, USA
2002 Wildlife and the Artist, group
exhibition, Wildlife Art Gallery, Lavenham, Suffolk
2001 Mural commission for Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(RSPB) visitor centres at Derwent Ings and
Pulborough
Brooks nature reserves.
2000 Mural
Commission for entrance foyer at RSPB national headquarters
1999 Mural
commission for London Aquarium
Commission
for 24 original works from Royal Caribbean Cruise Line
1998 Invitation
to return to Parc Les Écrins in the Alpine region of France to contribute to an
ongoing art
project
Solo exhibition at The
Peter Hedley Gallery, Dorset
Invitation to join
Artists for Nature project in Alaska’s Copper River
region; subsequent contribution to Alaskan
project touring exhibition in USA
1997 Publication
of Carnets du Littoral, La Camargue (author
and illustrator)
Visiting
lecturer, Royal College of Art (Communication Art and Design)
1996 Commissioned
by Conservatoire du Littoral and Gallimard (publishers) in France to portray the landscape and
wildlife of
the Camargue region of southern France
Invitation from Artists
for Nature Foundation to join international group of artists in Extremadura region of Spain.
Subsequently, work included in exhibition
tour through Europe
Invitation from Parc Les Écrins, France to contribute to an art
project in the National Park.
1995 Exhibition, Wildlife Art Gallery, Lavenham, Suffolk,UK
1994 Writer
and presenter Birdscape a series of
six half-hour programmes for Channel 4 television
Elected
President of the Society of Wildlife Artists
Selected for inclusion in
Birds in Art exhibition at the Leigh
Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, USA
1992 Beyond Timbuktu – writer and presenter
of a BBC2 World About US film about the people and wildlife
dependant on the seasonal
floods of the Sahel region of West Africa
Selected for inclusion in
Birds in Art exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, USA
1991 Publication
of An Artist on Migration (author and illustrator) - a personal
interpretation of the annual
journeys
make flowing with the seasons between Europe and Africa.
1989 Solo
exhibition An Artist on Migration at
The Jane Neville Gallery, Aslockton, Notts
1987 Extensive
journey through West Africa and Sahara researching and
preparing for a project about bird migration
1979 Publication of Rare Mammals of the World (illustrator)
- a guide with text and maps to over 100 endangered
species
Exhibition at Natural
History Museum, London of all illustration work
from ‘Rare Mammals of the World’
1978 Elected
member of Society of Wildlife Artists
1977 An Artist in Antarctica, solo exhibition at the Scott Polar
Institute, Cambridge
1976 Life, Light and Landscape, Assembly
Rooms, Norwich - first solo exhibition
1975 – 1978
Three
austral summer visits to Bird Island, South Georgia and Antarctic Peninsula. First visit as field assistant, and
subsequent visits as freelance
artists and
film-maker.
1973 – 1975
Film
Production Assistant, Film Unit of Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(RSPB)
1975 – 2006
Contributions to Society of Wildlife
Artists annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London |
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