Society of Wildlife Artists | Events Programme 2024
- - Times and prices vary | Mall Galleries
EVENTS PROGRAMME
The Society of Wildlife Artists presents a series of special events to complement the Society's 61st Annual Exhibition, The Natural Eye 2024:
Workshop: Drawing Birds with Nik Pollard SWLA
Thursday 17 October, 10am to 4pm
Join Nik Pollard SWLA and spend the day learning to draw birds in St James’s Park.
From Pelicans to Pigeons, St James’s Park has a wonderful collection of birds that will provide plenty of inspiration and a perfect opportunity to get to grips with drawing birds from life.
About the Workshop
This one-day workshop is for all those new to drawing nature, as well as artists wishing to further extend their skills. It is designed to improve knowledge of anatomy, explore ways of drawing birds in their environment and build confidence in working outside.
The workshop will include: one to one tuition, group learning, drawing from life and a tour of The Natural Eye exhibition.
Basic drawing materials will be provided, plus participants are invited to bring sketchbooks and their own drawing kit if they wish to do so.
About the Artist
Nik Pollard has been a member of the SWLA since 1999, he is an experienced tutor and has been involved in the development of the Society’s projects and educational programme. He is a co-founder of Trymwood Studios, a gallery and teaching space in Bristol.
How to Book
Price £85 per person, £75 for Friends of the SWLA and Mall Galleries.
Only 10 places are available so early booking is advised.
Painting Demonstration by John Dobbs NEAC SWLA
Friday 18 October, 11am to 1pm
John Dobbs NEAC SWLA will demonstrate his painting technique 'live' in the gallery.
John works from life either outside, or in the studio. With his dog Dixie as his companion, he will take his easel out into the landscape where he will try to complete the painting in that session, aiming to find an emotional response to what he sees and feels before him. When John goes out to paint, he is looking at the interactions of colour and shape and through the accumulation of paint, the drawing finds itself.
Working in the studio, the process can be different in that the painting may be built up over many sessions, although he is still responding to the subject before him.
Free with gallery admission, no booking required.
Talk: 'An eye on Ringed Plover - a journey in art and conservation' by Wynona Legg SWLA
Saturday 19 October, 2pm
Join Wynona Legg SWLA for a talk about her work with beach nesting birds at the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and her journey to capture their stories as an artist.
Alongside practising as an artist, Wynona works full time for the RSPB, leading a project protecting beach nesting birds at Snettisham in North Norfolk. Her observations as both an artist and a conservationist have given her an intimate understanding of the lives of Ringed Plover and the tensions and impacts of beach recreation on their lives.
Wynona says, "This spring and summer, as an artist, I spent time watching a few very familiar Ringed Plover families through a different lens. Usually, these birds are at the other end of my binoculars through my working week as a conservationist, recording their progress as field notes through the season from fragile egg to feathered fledgling (if they are fortunate enough to make it that far)."
Wynona’s Ringed Plover observations will be exhibited at The Natural Eye. Finished framed work will be part of the main exhibition and a selection of her working drawings and sketches will be displayed in the Out of the Frame Room, which celebrates projects and fieldwork of member artists.
How to Book
Free with gallery admission, but booking is required.
Only 15 places are available so early booking is advised.
To book your place, please email exhibitions@mallgalleries.com
Sketchbooks and Watercolours with Richard Allen SWLA
Thursday 24 October, 11am to 4pm
Richard Allen SWLA will demonstrate his techniques, while showing and talking about his sketchbooks and watercolours.
Richard is an artist and illustrator based in East Anglia amid the creeks and marshes of the Essex coast. His great passion is the natural world, particularly birds, and he enjoys the challenge of sketching and painting them directly from life in the field in all weathers.
A freelance illustrator with over 35 years of experience, his work has appeared in many books, newspapers and magazines, as stamp designs, and on interpretation panels for many conservation bodies, including the RSPB and National Trust.
Free with gallery admission, no booking required.
President's Tour
Thursday 24 October, 2pm
Join President of the SWLA, Harriet Mead, for a tour of the Society's 61st Annual Exhibition: The Natural Eye 2024.
Harriet has always been inspired by the natural world. Her interests in animals and birds developed from an early age thanks to the influence of her late father, the ornithologist Chris Mead, who was a well known author and broadcaster. Harriet has always been drawn to sculpture and loves using steel to capture the quiet presence of an animal.
"I first showed my work at the SWLA in 1990 when I was a student. I had not visited the show before and was thrilled to have my sculptures, which were made of unconventional materials, exhibited among so much 'proper' art by such skilled and established artists... That rather awestruck teenager would be astonished to learn that her much older self would have the honour of being at the helm of the Society that continues to help other young artists on their path to creating work inspired by the natural world."
Free with gallery admission, no booking required.