Society of Wildlife Artists | Prizes & Awards 2020
/ Society of Wildlife Artists
The Society of Wildlife Artists and Mall Galleries are delighted to announce the Prizes & Awards from The Natural Eye 2020.
Congratulations to all artists who have been awarded prizes by our generous prize givers.
The exhibition is open at Mall Galleries until Sunday 8 November.
If you cannot make the exhibition we hope that with videos, audio, images, and statements by the winners to watch, hear, see, and read, you can experience and enjoy their works wherever you are.
The Birdwatch and Swarovski Optik Artist of the Year Award
Esther Tyson SWLA
The Birdwatch and Swarovski Optik Artist of the Year Award is chosen by a panel of judges including Peter Antoniou of Swarovski Optik, Birdwatch Editor Rebecca Armstrong and artists Chris Rose and Bruce Pearson. The prize is a Swarovski ATS 80 HD spotting scope with 25-50x zoom eyepiece worth £2,430 and a three-year subscription to BirdGuides Bird News Ultimate.
Discover all Esther's work in the exhibition
RSPB Award of £500
Simon Turvey SWLA
Swallows
Larson-Juhl Award
To celebrate drawing or dry media, draughtsmanship and capturing ideas as an art form. £500 worth of Larson-Juhl materials to the winner and a feature in their '4Walls' magazine
Nik Pollard SWLA
White-tailed Bumble Bee and Knapweed series
The judges have chosen Nik Pollard for the Larson-Juhl Award. They were struck by the vibrancy and mark making within all his work, but the studies of bees in particular have captured the movement and energy of the insects and given a wonderful sense of being immersed within the meadow.
With projects further afield cancelled this year, I have been focusing on wildlife closer to home. I've been able to give particular focus to the Bumblebee species that inhabit local meadow. I've been captured by their extraordinary physical qualities and behaviour.
With this wonderful subject matter on the doorstep, I've been able to move seamlessly between field and studio to build a new body of work that celebrates these marvellous creatures whilst exploring different drawing and printing mediums.
Presentation of my work is very important to me, therefore I am excited to be receiving the Larson-Juhl Award and look forward to selecting some quality framing products.
The BIRDscapes Gallery 'Conservation through Art' Award
£700 split between the artist and a conservation charity of their choice
Christopher Wallbank SWLA
Goldfinch and Wych Elm
For many wildlife artists, their practice is a solitary occupation, preparing for the production of finished works, in attractive rural surroundings. A browse of Chris’s website reveals a ‘documentary’ artist, often ‘in the thick of it’, catching moments of unlikely subjects in unlikely places: from snipe poking around muddy margins among the outflow pipes on his local reservoir to swarming black kites mixing with people and machines on a vast Delhi rubbish tip.
For Chris, his exploration of visual art’s role in presenting new angles on ecological themes has led to involvement with many conservation projects and makes him a very deserving winner of The BIRDscapes Gallery’s Conservation through Art Award.
Steve and Liz Harris of BIRDscapes Gallery
Dry Red Press Award
The winning work will be reproduced as a greetings card
Richard Jarvis SWLA
Moorhens, Mallards & Mayflies
Browse & Buy Work from the exhibition