We spoke to Rebecca about her work, inspiration, and interest in the Climate Crisis and environmental issues.
Tell us about your practice and your journey to get to where you are now.
Ferns by Rebecca Jewell on Somerset paper,
selected for the Royal Academy
Summer Exhibition 2024
I am a practicing printmaker and fine artist. I did my PhD at the Royal College of Art in the department of Natural History Illustration. My work is based around the study of nature and material culture – making prints and drawings of specimens and artefacts in museum collections. After graduating from the RCA in 2004, I was artist in residence at the British Museum for several years, working with the collections from Oceania. I also had a printmaking fellowship at Sir John Cass School of Art, where I devised a process for printing images directly onto feathers. These I collage into ‘objects’ and ‘artefacts.’ I have exhibited with many galleries both in the UK and around the world and my work is in several national collections, including the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Royal Maritime Museum.
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| Cornish Flowers by Rebecca Jewell on Bockingford |
We met at the Royal College of Art where we were both studying in the same department, Natural History Illustration and Ecological Studies. This course had been founded by John Norris Wood in 1971 and he taught there for over thirty years. We were two of John’s last students before he retired and the course was closed, he died in 2015. Realising that there were very limited places to study Natural History Illustration in the UK, we founded Drawn from Nature as a legacy to John but also to continue the important work of teaching observational drawing of natural history.
Earlier in your career, you spent time in Papua New Guinea - how did this experience influence your work?
When I was eighteen, I went to live in Papua New Guinea with an anthropologist and his wife and four children. I helped Wojtek with his fieldwork, and I spent time with Kathy, an artist, and I learnt from her how to paint with ink and wash and watercolour. I spent nearly a year with the family, it was hugely influential on the rest of my life – living in the cloud-covered rainforests, seeing birds of paradise and wild cassowaries, and witnessing and taking part in Moka ceremonies where the people dress in beautiful feather headdresses, decorate their bodies and dance and exchange pigs and gifts. After leaving PNG I studied social anthropology at Cambridge and continued my interest in Pacific cultures through my work at the British Museum.
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| Fox Monoprint by Rebecca Jewell on Somerset paper |
I believe that art is a powerful medium for getting messages across about the Climate Crisis and environmental issues. I spent time in Malta, monitoring the illegal hunting of migrating birds, and out of that experience I made a series of works using mist nets sewn with printed feathers, representing the cruel practice of trapping birds in these invisible nets. Recently I had a residency with Cambridge Conservation Initiative, looking at seaweed biodiversity and making nature prints of pressed seaweeds from the Cornish coast, where the habitats of seaweeds are changing due to the warming of the sea, and some species are in decline.
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| Sea Eagle by Rebecca Jewell on Somerset paper |
Unique to ‘Drawn from Nature’ is an exceptional collection of natural history specimens – what sort of specimens have you collected and where have they come from? What is your favourite specimen?
Both my parents were zoologists, so the foundation of my collection came from them – my father brought exotic feathers, lion and warthog skulls back from his fieldwork in Africa, and rhinos’ teeth and porcupine quills. Over the years I have added to this, from feathers and butterfly specimens given to me by zookeepers, to fossils, shells and minerals that I’ve collected on my travels. I’ve also bought vintage hat feathers from antique fairs, and I have a collection of beautiful eggs which belonged to my great aunt.
Perhaps my most prized item is the skin of a King Bird of Paradise, which belonged to my father, and I discovered it in a drawer after he died. It has two glorious tail feathers with iridescent spiral discs at the tips.
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| Penzance Vase by Rebecca Jewell on Bockingford |
What is the importance of drawing to you?
Drawing is at the core of my practice. As the artist and philosopher John Ruskin said, to learn to draw is to learn to see. I really believe that by looking and drawing something it helps you to understand it, to fix it in your mind and to appreciate the structure or design of an object. The slow concentrated process of eye to hand drawing, can’t be replaced by the click of a camera.
What is your go-to paper to use and why? When I am printing, I like to use a smooth heavy paper, especially St Cuthberts Mill Somerset Satin in soft white - the heavier 300gsm weight. When I am painting in watercolour and ink, I like to use St Cuthberts Mill Bockingford, also 300gsm - this is affordable and has lovely results.
Cornish Wild Flowers by
Rebecca Jewell on Bockingford paper
During Works on Paper, you taught a class at Green & Stone called ‘Drawing and Painting Nature Specimens’ – can you tell us about it?
In our classes we share decades of knowledge that has been passed down to us as artists over the years. We structure our classes to pass on many tips and hints we have learnt ourselves. We also like to talk to our participants about the materials they are using…how their paper is made from cotton, and the history behind the coloured watercolours they are using. The specimens being painted are also full of fascinating stories. We have always had enthusiastic feedback and many of our students are loyal followers. We have found that our methods give the complete beginner confidence, and the established artist fresh inspiration. As the last graduates of The Royal College of Art’s ‘Natural History’ painting course, we feel passionate about sharing the skills needed for this work in order for it not to be lost.
UPCOMING WORKSHOP BY DRAWN FROM NATURE
Drawing and Painting Nature Specimens: Butterflies and Beetles at Gallery Green and Stone, London.
For more details, visit:
https://www.thegalleryatgreenandstone.com/events/rebecca-jewell-sandy-sykes-nature-specimens
To view more of Rebecca Jewell’s work, visit:
https://www.rebeccajewell.com/
Links for Drawn from Nature
https://www.drawnfromnature.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/drawnfromnature
To learn more about the Somerset range visit our website.
Article originated by The Gallery at Green & Stone, as part of their 'Works on Paper' exhibition. Our thanks to them for allowing us to replicate the piece.
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