Fibre-optic nest, Ukraine 2025 watercolour 36 x 41cm
This mixed exhibtion at the North House gallery in Manningtree is part of the Manningtree Earth Festival organised by PACE (Practical Action for the Climate and Environment). Your invitation is below. Please note the exhibition continues until 27 June, open Saturdays, 10am – 5pm or by appointment.
I am showing seven paintings. Four of them are part of my current project with Douglas G D Russell, Senior Curator at the Natural History Museum, that will result in a series of watercolour paintings showing manmade materials found in historical nests. The collaboration aims to showcase nests spanning over 125 years of climate change, biodiversity loss, and conflict. It is bookended by the Second Boer War in 1902 and the Ukraine War in 2025 and both paintings are in this exhibition.
The Ukraine nest, above, was made with the fibre-optic cables from drones that now litter the landscape – the moving story concerning it was recently covered in an article for the Sunday Times (these articles are often paywalled – if you are not a subscriber, a copy will be available at the exhibition or from me if you let me know).
My other 3 works are from a series of long paintings showing groups of objects from the natural world or being used to nurture it – a row of swans’ feathers collected on the Mistley to Manningtree road, 5 different nests collected over the years and a row of well used gardening gloves which can all be seen on my website.
Swans’ feathers, Mistley (and detail) watercolour 22 x 96cm
