About Us
Wildlife Art continues to be an important part of Slimbridge Wetland Centre, building on the artistic legacy of Sir Peter Scott. In 2000, the Cheng - Kim Loke Gallery was opened with a retrospective of his work and has since housed exhibitions by many local and internationally recognised artists, displaying a wide variety of media. Slimbridge is proud to represent established stars of the Wildlife Art world, whilst highlighting the work of young talented artists who are building promising careers.
The art gallery plays host to six exhibitions of wildlife art each year. All mediums are shown from water colours to 3D works. It's a wonderful place to find one off pieces at extremely affordable prices and a percentage of all sales goes to the conservation work of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.
Slimbridge gallery is available to hire for private and corporate functions, to discuss your requirements please call 01453 891115.
The images on this page not necessarily for sale . But are displayed to give you an idea of the type of work these artists do .
Current Show
11 July - 7 Sept . A mirror up to nature
Barry Walding
It was the sight , in the mid – sixties , of his first Davis Shepard landscape painting that inspired the young Barry Walding , although it was to be after a career and graphic design at Rolls- Royce , Filton, before he himself became a professional artist.
For the past twenty nine years he has painted his passion for wildlife , landscape, aviation and railways, taking part in The Guild of Railway Artists and contributing to many major exhibitions, including those at York Railway Museum and the Mall Galleries.
Barry has a keen interest in the British countryside, it’s wildlife and conservation . He has been artist in residence on three occasions at Nature in Art, Wallsworth Hall, Gloucester , sharing his love of art and nature. Following his two previous successful exhibition at Slimbridge in 1991 and 2002 , he hopes you will enjoy this present opportunity to view the artist holding ‘a mirror up to nature’
Hannah Turner
Hannah Turner is drawn to strong graphic shapes, the appeal of 50s cartoons is evident in her designs, yet drawing reference from a very modern cultural aesthetic. There will be new bird designs in this exhibition, as well as various tableware designs with a bird pattern wrapped around them.
12 Sept - 2 Nov . Celtic Fringes
Keith Brockie
Keith Brockie was born in Haddington, East Lothian in December 1955. Educated at Bell Baxter High School, Cupar, Fife 1970-74. In 1978 he graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, and after a short period working as an illustrator with Dundee Museums and Art Galleries he became a freelance artist specialising in wildlife.
Since then he has had 6 books published featuring his own work, Keith Brockie’s Wildlife Sketchbook, 1981; One Man’s Island, 1984; The Silvery Tay, 1988; Mountain Reflections, 1994; Cuaderno de Campo de la Naturaleza Espaniola, 1995 and Drawn from Nature, 1995. In addition he has part or wholly illustrated many more books including ‘Rural Portraits’, 2003, featuring the native farm animals of Scotland and the characters involved with them. A film ‘One Man’s Island’ featuring his work on the Isle of May was shown on the BBC 2 World About Us series in 1984.
In the course of his work he has travelled widely in countries as disparate as Scandinavia, North Yemen, Tanzania and North America. Also he has participated in expeditions to Greenland in1982, 88, 91 and Svalbard 1993 as assistant leader with the British Schools Exploring Society teaching about the wildlife and field sketching.
Working with groups of artists he has participated in environmental awareness projects in Schiermonikoog, Netherlands, 1990 ; Biezbra Valley, Poland, 1992 ; Copper River Delta, Alaska, 1995 ; Briere Marshes, Loire, France, 2001; the SWLA Atlantic Oakwoods (Ardnamurchan) project in 2004 and the Hula Valley, Israel in January 2008.
His other natural history interests include the monitoring and ringing of birds of prey such as golden eagle and peregrine falcon. Since 1982 he has monitored and helped the increasing osprey population in Perthshire and Angus.
His original art is highly regarded, a recent review in The Scotsman of the Curious Eye exhibition at The Royal Scottish Academy by Duncan Macmillan, one of Scotland’s foremost art critics recognised the depth of observation and feeling which is transmitted by Keiths’ work: “His study of a hare watched through a telescope is as beautiful as the hare itself, but it is not just a borrowed beauty, something appropriated, that we admire in his work….(it) is a record of something seen, certainly, but also of otherness understood and wondered at, of empathy, of seeing informed by feeling…To record and transmit real feeling can’t be borrowed. It has to be your own, and if it is counterfeit we soon spot that deception”.
He now lives with his wife Hazel in the village of Fearnan on the shores of Loch Tay, Perthshire where he has a studio/gallery featuring his own work.
One Man Exhibitions
The Stirling Gallery,Stirling, 1979
The Brotherton Gallery, London, 1981, 82, 84
Scottish Arts Council, Travelling Gallery (Highland Tour), 1982
Kellie Lodging, Pittenweem Arts Festival (Fife), 1983
The Tryon Gallery, London, 1988
The Wildlife Art Gallery, Lavenham, Suffolk, 1993,95
Barrack Street Museum, Dundee, 1993
Scottish Office, Edinburgh, 1997
McManus Galleries, Dundee Museum, 2003
Royal Highland Show, Edinburgh, 2003
Museum of Scottish Country Life, East Kilbride, 2003
Waterston House, Aberlady, East Lothian,2007, 2009
Fearnan Gallery,permanent exhibition of own work.
Janine Partington
Janine Partington is a designer-maker based in Bristol combining the traditional craft of enamelling with fresh, clean, contemporary design.
7 Nov - 5 Jan 2011. Source to the sea
Jackie Garner
Local artist Jackie Garner returns to the Cheng-Kim Loke Gallery after her successful exhibition in 2006.Jackie has always loved to draw and paint, and Slimbridge WWT has been a source of inspiration for nearly thirty years. Her initial interest in botanical drawing led on to portrayals of wildlife in a variety of media, but Jackie’s most recent work highlights her increasing fascination with the repeating shapes and colours that link wildlife with habitat.
Jackie is probably best known for her paintings of Falklands’ penguins, and though this exhibition will primarily focus on European wildlife, the occasional penguin may sneak in! Since 2009 Jackie has been based at a new studio in Stroud where she is concentrating on book illustrations and gallery paintings. Much of the inspiration for this exhibition will come from wildlife within the wonderful Gloucestershire countryside.
Jackie’s work is held in collections as far afield as Norway, South Africa, Trinidad and Australia, and has been shown on BBC television.
Ian Griffiths
Griff first visited Slimbridge in 1971 with fellow school friends after winning a competition on their study of the Eider duck on Lunga, an island off Mull, Scotland which Griff illustrated. Now a professional Wildlife artist, mainly birds, he is delighted to be showing his paintings at the place which influenced him the most all those years ago.
His paintings vary in both styles an medium preferring to let the subject dictate the choice. There will be watercolour sketches, detailed acrylics and large abstract oils on show.
Griffs work has been shown in many UK, European and USA galleries as well as Wildlife art shows with sales worldwide. As well as the forthcoming exhibitions he is working on several projects to raise funds for conservation work.
Eddie Hallam
Eddie is an artist; a biology graduate; an award-winning nature reserve warden and a former wildlife park director. First and foremost, however, he is an active and passionate wildlife conservationist. An outdoor countryman through and through, he is never happier than when in remote, wild places studying and watching wildlife.
Although widely travelled, his favourite places are the outlying islands of Scotland. He feels particularly privileged to have spent an entire month on the inaccessible and uninhabited islands of St Kilda where he was able to observe and sketch the massive seabird colonies. It was this particular expedition which fuelled his desire to sculpt a range of seabirds and have them cast in bronze.
Although Eddie had previously spent many years carving birds, he found that sculpting gave him greater flexibility and freedom than working entirely in wood.
Although he generally prefers to concentrate on British birds and mammals, he is currently sculpting a Spanish Lynx – a beautiful but highly endangered species. Through his artwork Eddie hopes to promote interest in wildlife and foster support for its effective conservation.
9 January 2011 - 28 Febuary. Wildlife art
Ron Swanwick
Ron has always had a passion, some might call it an obsession, for drawing and painting. At the age of 10 when other boys were out fishing in the canal or exploring the countryside on bicycles, you would have been just as likely to find him in the park with a sketch book and pencil.
In the early ‘80s he took the plunge and became established as a commission artist and illustrator and with more than 600 commissions throughout Britain and Europe. In 1989 Ron started teaching , working for Hereford College of Art and in a number of primary schools advancing the pupils and teachers drawing skills. Ron runs private classes on drawing and painting courses, attracting students from throughout the UK and overseas.
He written and had published two books and C.D.’s on drawing and many articles in Art magazines.
Two years ago he relocated to Gloucestershire . Returning to his first love, that of painting birds, and finds himselfe expressing the observations of birds in compositions which are influenced by his previous experience of abstract painting. Some of my images are representational, detailed illustrations where Ron attempt to capture the wonder of the colour and form of the birds However, his real pleasure comes from creating an image that shows the characteristics of the bird, such as the patterns of starlings or turns in flight or the abstract shapes of waders on a stony beach. It is not about the detail but it is about the lasting impression one gains from observing birds
Living within cycling distance of Slimbridge is a joy. It means I can visit early in the morning and almost have the place to myself enabling me to take some wonderful photographs for my work. This has been a real source of inspiration for this current exhibition.
Ron is running an art course on 13 and 14 November , Painting birds from Photography. for more information aobut this cantact David Bell 01453-891223 or email david.bell@wwt.org.uk
Note: The above images will not necessarily be for sale at the exhibition but displayed here to give you an idea of the type of work , these artist do.
How to Order
If you are unable to attend an exhibition or have seen something you like and would like to place an order please call 01453 891221 or email info.slimbridge@wwt.org.uk.