Collaboration with Nicky Heard Artist
“Reef Dependent" Project
Nicky Heard is a dry-felt painting artist, and my amazing mother. Her work depicts portraits of many different species of wildlife, all needle felted onto canvas using mixtures of merino wools, silks, and natural fibres.
Together we are currently creating a body of collaborative works depicting ocean scenes, and plan to exhibit together later on this year.
Nicky's website and social media:
"Indian Sailfin Tang"
2022. Merino Wool, Oil Paint & Glow in the Dark Pigment on Box Canvas, Oak frame.
£225
"Green Turtle"
2022. Merino Wool, Oil Paint & Glow in the Dark Pigment on Box Canvas, Oak frame.
£1,300
WINNER OF VAL CARTER AWARD 2022
“Caribbean Reef Squid"
2022. Merino Wool & Natural Fibres, Oil & Glow in the Dark Pigment on Canvas, Oak Frame.
£1,300
"Reef Dependent"
As passionate environmentalists, both myself and my mum focus heavily on conservation themes in our artworks. We both depict the raw beauty of the natural world using very different media to emphasise what we are losing through climate change and human activity.
The declining of our worlds reefs touches us both emotionally and impacts us all. Despite reefs only taking up 2% of the worlds oceans, they support 25% of all life in the ocean and more than 500 million people rely on the reefs for their livelihoods. Without coral reefs, many ocean species would perish and the loss of biodiversity would be staggering. It would be a tragedy for future generations to grow up without such a beautiful, colourful ecosystem to inspire, provide and educate.
By capturing details of the reef and the creatures which are dependent on it, we plan for this collaboration to document its broad diversity of life - individual unique other-worldly shapes, colours and behaviours which make an eco-system so beautiful and unlike anything else on Earth. Our message is one of awe, love and conservation.
Links to Coral websites:
Coral Guardian
Coral Reef Life declaration
Glowing Glowing Gone
Natural History Museum - Why are Coral Reefs important?
Adopt a Coral
The Coral Centre - The UK’s biggest sustainable coral farm
