The deadline for entries is 1st June 2021 - so plenty of time to prepare an application.
What is The Natural Eye Bursary?
The Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) offers this Bursary each year to artists aged 16 and over who are interested in portraying wildlife in art.
the selectors are looking for proposals that demonstrate a sense of enquiry into the natural world through original and thoughtful creativity that will result in a genuine artistic and personal response to the wildlife subject.
What is on offer?
The award has two components:
- Awards of up to £750 are available to artists submitting exceptional proposals that focus on wildlife as a main subject to:
- carry out independent projects,
- develop research - involving artwork
- or training in art practices .
- Successful applicants also have the opportunity to
- exhibit an example (or examples) of their bursary work during The Natural Eye exhibition held annually at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London’s West End
- have their report of their project published on the SWLA website.
- several past bursary winners have gone on to become active members of the SWLA
- the bursary has helped with exhibition opportunities and professional relationships that continue into the future
- most award winners have continued to diversify in the arts, often citing their bursary project as a pivotal moment in their practice.
I was immersed in nature for a month, observing wildlife every day and for the first time learning to identify those methods of field drawing that work for meCHRISTOPHER WALLBANK Bursary Winner 2008 - Read his report
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Urban Black Kites of Delhi by Chris Wallbank (won 2008) - a subsequent project - as exhibited 10 years later in the SWLA Annual Exhibition in 2018 |
Essentially, it's an opportunity to demonstrate your interests, the scope of your enquiry and the knowledge, skills, talent and innovation that you bring to bear on creating a focused piece of research and artwork.
Christopher Wallbank (bursary winner 2008) discovered his fascination for combining art with ecology during his project drawing the wildlife of two extremes, depth and altitude, in the Bay of Biscay and Picos de Europa mountain range. He has since gone on to collaborate with several field-based conservation projects, including the long-term monitoring of guillemots, the preservation of urban black kites and as an SWLA member on the Wallasea and Wadensea projects.
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| Green Bridge Loomery by Chris Wallbank |
What are selectors looking for?
Successful proposals will reflect the SWLA’s main ethos to generate appreciation and delight in the natural world through fine art.
The current context changes the bursary slightly this year:
- Both the Pandemic and the subsequent lockdown(s) has meant that many more artists have found inspiration in nature.
- However they also been limited in how far they can travel - and many in the UK are still limited by how far they can move away from their local area.
Many of the society’s members and associates working under lockdown restrictions have demonstrated how successfully artistic enquiry can capture the awe and wonder found in nature without the need to travel to exotic corners of the world.
Consequently in 2021, the SWLA have very sensibly suggested that they are particularly interested in proposals that
- either celebrate the wildlife found close to home
- and/or projects by artists who have, perhaps for the first time, discovered a new focus for their work by engaging more with the natural world.
That does not exclude other proposals - but the focus enables a much clearer focus on wildlife near people's own homes than hitherto.
Previous Bursary Awards
Previous bursary work has included a wide range of different media including;
- drawing,
- sculpture,
- painting,
- online journals,
- artist’s book-works and
- installation.
Successful bursary projects have focused on one (or more) aspects - see below
- many document their experience of wildlife first hand - by working from observation in the field.
- artistic development through education and building practical skills e.g. Gareth Williams’ bursary award enabled him to join a print studio for a year and develop his observations of wildlife through print making.
I was able to learn this entirely new way of working, which gave my work a new visual language and, complimented my styleGARETH WILLIAMS, THE NATURAL EYE BURSARY WINNER 2007 - read about his project
- research resulting in remarkable portfolios of work on display at The Natural Eye Exhibition.
You can read about the projects undertaken by previous award winners on the SWLA website.
The resultant 2008 exhibition gave me the opportunity to invite peers and contemporaries to see my installation at the gallery — a great space — which led to an invitation to exhibit the work at "The Animal Gaze: Contemporary Art & Animal/Human Studies" — WhitechapelHELEN J. BULLARD, THE NATURAL EYE BURSARY WINNER 2006, 2007 - read about her 2007 project and her 2006 project
