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Project
Overview
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How close can I get to a roosting
Nighthawk? Where in the forest can I find a Twist-necked
Turtle? How do I gain trust from a troop of Brown
Capuchins? Which tree would I be able to climb if
a herd of Peccaries approaches?
These are the kind of questions that
were important to my everyday work as an artist
documenting the natural history of the Manu Learning
Centre (MLC). The answers slowly becoming apparent
to me as I attempted to draw the wildlife I came
across.
Treating the jungle as my studio
also meant enduring hours hiding up trees from the
raucous activities of foraging peccaries (wild pigs)
or working on paper stained yellow from sweat and
humidity; sometimes sitting out tropical downpours
and even dodging precipitation caused by disgruntled
Howler Monkeys. Despite such challenges I began
to earn the trust or at least indifference of the
most prominent stars of the forest and learnt to
read the signs and habits that could lead me to
some of its more elusive characters.
My reward; the chance to capture
a fleeting glimpse of wild nature in often furiously
made sketches that will express an insight into
the mysteries of rainforest life, long after the
experience has passed.
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April
26th 2005
"…Shenaz came running explaining there
was a Tamandua, she knew I'd been wanting
to sketch one. Grabbed my drawing equipment,
which I now keep to hand for such an occasion.
Just had time to draw an outline of the
grizzled adult before it flicked out its
tongue and coolly ambled upwards out of
sight. That moment seemed to be enough
though for me to paint an impression of
the encounter this afternoon back at camp…"
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May
17th 2005
"…Found a caterpillar 9x3cm and hairy.
Drew it all day happy in the knowledge
that it wasn't going to run off. By midday
it had eaten a leaf the size of my hand
and after a short rest started on another
which it is still munching now after dark,
its rubbery jaws methodically crunching
across the leaf and back like a busy typewriter…" |
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June
3rd 2005
"…Crossed over to the river island this
afternoon. A capped heron demurely stalked
its prey in a new lagoon left by the receding
floodwaters. It took me a long time to
crawl close enough so I could paint it,
using my colours to stain the paper like
its reflection stained the placid water…" |
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Illustrating rainforest species accurately,
like finding and identifying them successfully required
me to understand them not just by their appearance
but by a myriad of traits making up each one's complex
even mysterious identity. In field drawings I was
able to record different species characteristics
of behavior, locomotion, diet, habitat, residue
and posture. Whilst with creativity I could capture
less tangible experiences; a sense of place or moments
of encounter for example, as well as practical things
like where to look and what to expect in certain
wildernesses.
By communicating all these aspects
together in an illustrated guide I aimed to create
an objective, relevant and informative resource
that would link, as well as interpret the wildlife
of the MLC to the wildlife observer. Now after months
of development in the rainforests of Peru, support
and collaboration from Crees and funding from GMAC
Commercial Mortgage Europe and the Society of Wildlife
Artists (SWLA), that aim is being realized in the
form of an Unbound Amazonian Field Guide (UAFG).
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What
is an unbound field guide?
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Unlike conventional guidebooks the
Unbound Amazonian Field Guide is a collection of
'field' cards that can be bound temporarily, which
means it is constantly open to new contributions
made by the Manu Learning Centre's resident artists
and naturalists. This makes it a source of growing
information that will, over time come to represent
a range of individual styles and observations without
losing the continuity of a good field guide.
The card system is also a practical
form in that each small, durable 'field' card is
a visual and written reference to a species or group
of species, which can be chosen and bound to other
cards with a key ring. So taking them into the field
offers a welcome solution to lugging heavy books
that are often too cumbersome, fragile and valuable
for use in the jungle. The unbound Amazonian field
guide will also be supplemented by a series of interpretation
boards located throughout the MLC's trail system.
These give onsite information about habitats, forest
structure and orientation as a way to further engage
nature observers with the sensations of their surroundings.
Above all, the Unbound Amazonian
Field Guide project is an opportunity for artists
to contribute to the field of rainforest research
and benefit the nature researcher, student and enthusiast
with an artistic perception of what has been a predominantly
scientific domain.
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Curriculum
Vitae & Artist Statement
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Education
2/1 BA (hons) in Fine Art (Hons)
Oxford Brookes University, Richard Hamilton Building
Oxford. OX2 6AP.
July 2003
Awards
GMAC/Society of Wildlife Artists Bursary Award
August 2005
Exhibitions
Oriel Davies Open, Oriel Davies Gallery Newtown,
Powys, SY16 2NZ. 2004, First prize in under 25's
category 2001 and 2000.
Publications
Illustration in 'Letters', BBC Wildlife Magazine,
Autumn 2005, 23/10, pp 88.
Reviews
'Degree show Focus', [a-n] Magazine For Artists,
May 2003, pp 20.
Residencies
Manu Learning Centre, Manu national park, S.E Peru.
(October 2004 to July 2005)
Explorer's Inn, Postales 48, Puerto
Maldonada, Peru.
(June to September 2004)
http://www.geocities.com/resident_naturalist
Back
to UAFG main menu
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Artist
Statement
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 As
a natural history illustrator I am
involved in communicating information
and ideas about the natural world.
My work begins in the field as life
drawings. Most of it is relayed back
again in the form of field guides
and other aids to nature interpretation.
Accurate illustration
of a species, like making a positive
identification in the field depends
on understanding it's complex identity,
distinguishable through a myriad of
different factors. My work is about
observing and interpreting what I
see into an image of a subject as
it occurs in nature. For me objective
illustration is not just about accurately
portraying the detail of a petal or
the texture of fur but also the less
tangible dimensions equally attributable
to a living thing such as it's behavior,
crypticity, diet, residue, habituation
and habitat. Words struggle to describe
some of these traits, whilst the deft
punctuation of imagery makes it possible
to convey the several dimensions of
a species' identity through a single
glance. It is this potential that
I aim to harness when exploring the
natural world through illustration.
My background education
in fine art has given me the initiative
to characterize my work in a way that
strengthens its intended meaning and
function. I aim to enhance the function
of my illustrations in the field by
using them to mediate the experience
of witnessing wildlife. This involves
depicting natural history subjects
within a sense of place, in relation
to the environmental space and feeling
from the viewpoint of the nature observer.
Not all my work deals
with direct representations of nature,
it also explores theoretical ideas
using creative processes influenced
by scientific methodology. Species
of birds that exploit riverine habitats,
neotropical primates in relation to
the canopy layers they occupy and
how forest type and density changes
per 500m along a jungle transect are
the type of propositions I have explored
in nature and explained through illustration.
In my practice function
determines the form that a body of
work will take. For example the product
of my latest work the, 'Unbound Amazonian
field Guide Project' is an unbound
book made of durable pocket sized
cards that can be chosen and bound
temporarily. This form is suited to
the demanding jungle location it is
used in, whilst its expandability
allows volunteers to contribute to
it as part of an ongoing opportunity
for artists. Another of my recent
pieces illustrates ornithological
specimens from the Oxford University
Natural History Museum archives. To
recreate the experience of discovering
this ephemeral collection hidden away
from public view the illustrations
have been displayed within reconstructions
of the original storage containers,
designed to allow only the most fleeting
of glimpses.
The diversity of form
art embodies is testimony to the organic
nature of creativity. My natural history
illustration is about using the power
of this creativity to generate fresh
visions of the natural world.
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Contact
Information
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