Occasionally an opportunity arises to be involved in a longer project or piece of work. Often these lead to other opportunities for the work that werent forseen at the start of the project. this page describes two projects I have been involved with over the past few years.
Massingham Heath with the Society of Wildlife Artists
One of the benefits of becoming a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists has been the opportunity to take part in this project. Over the course of 2025 and 2026 I have had the privilege of visiting the Heath for 2 residencies.
Landowner Ollie has been more than generous in his support of the project, making accommodation on site available for visiting artists for 4 residencies and numerous individual visits. Tim Baldwin, and an enthusiastic team of volunteers efficiently organised catering, sorted problems, and identified species for us.
West Norfolk historically had some expansive areas of grassy heath on poor and often calcareous soils. These have more affinity to the Breckland landscape than to the classic heath of gorse and heather that is generally found on acidic soils. Much of this was ploughed up for the food effort during WW2 and what remains is now fragmented. Ollie began rewilding part of the estate in 2017, allowing the land to return to its dry grassland past, with a little help from gathered seed, and grazing in the firm of Konik ponies and cabot goats. Oh, and rootling services provided by two Tamworth pigs.
This recovering habitat has now been explored by over 30 artists, depicting insect, bird, and plant species as well as the wider landscape and farming activity over a full calender year. The locals have by now become accustomed to us rambling about, standing and pointing, and rummaging in the undergrowth.
This recovering habitat has now been explored by over 30 artists, depicting insect, bird, and plant species as well as the wider landscape and farming activity over a full calender year. The locals have by now become accustomed to us rambling about, standing and pointing, and rummaging in the undergrowth. In August, I found leather bugs, like pieces of angular furniture walking about in the rich autumn crimsons of dock deed heads. Returning in April, extraordinary male oil beetles urgently tumbling through the grass in search of females got my attention. Later a completely different challenge was trying to draw green tiger beetles, the sun glaring off their iridescent bodies as they scuttled about like predatory sports cars.
While official year of the project is over, there is still much more to come from the project. There will be a book produced and further exhibitions taking place in a variety of community spaces and dedicated art galleries throughout 2027. Tim’s team of volunteers have taken ownership of the project and are keen to keep the momentum in the local area.
Below is some of my work from the two residencies. You can read more about the heath on the Society of Wildlife Artists Website and the Massingham Heath websites:
During the April Residency Martha Kearny from Radio 4 visited the heath to record an episode of Open Country, which gives a great flavour of the heath and the project. This will be available on BBC sounds for a year.
Catalan Butterflies – an Art and Poetry Collaboration Project
Catalan Butterflies was a collaborative project with poet Laurence O’Dwyer. I first met Larry in 2020 during a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre for which I had received a bursary from Ards and North Down Borough Council. Shortly afterwards, he contacted me to ask if I would be interested in creating pop up butterflies in response some of the poems in his collection “Catalan Butterflies” and to compliment audio visuals that he was developing with other artists.
Imagine Festival, Waterford
In October 2021 we received a small amount of funding from Waterford Imagine Festival to present our work in progress along with 2 other collaborative groups. We were surprised and delighted to be awarded further funding to bring more developed work to the 2022 festival. The result was an evening of poems accompanied by music and with an exhibition of the butterflies alongside, and paper butterfly lapel pins for each of the participants.
The project challenged my self taught paper engineering skills and led me to explore the potential of simple folded books, a form I find exciting and full of possibility. I have loved exploring Larry’s poems which are rich in stories, the individual and the historical woven together with the air, the scents, and the heat and colours of the Pyrenees. And always there is there is the scuffling and fluttering of tiny creatures!
The “Catalan Butterfly collection was published in 2022 by Templar Poetry with, I am honoured to say, one of my pieces as the cover Image. You can find out more about the poems, hear a reading and buy the book on their website:
Poems ©Laurence O’Dwyer 2022. Reproduced here by kind permission from the author
Shearwater Project – the Story of a Story
Twelve artists marooned on an Island
The story “Shearwater” began in 2016 when I was lucky enough to take part in the Copeland Art Project, promoted with the genius headline “12 artists marooned on an island“. Funding from Ards and North Down Borough Council provided us all with membership of the Copeland Bird Observatory, transport and a weekend stay on the island.
We spent our first day wandering the island in the sunshine and mercilessly teasing our hosts, Wesley and Geoff, about their bird lists – a new idea for most of us. Wesley and Geoff did not have long to wait for revenge. As night fell, the Island changed. The buzzing insects and singing wrens gave way to earie calls from the sea . Before long there were answering calls – from beneath our feet! Our knowing banter fell silent and our jaws dropped in astonishment as shearwaters rained down, thudding to the ground at our feet. The wildlife had swept aside any thoughts I’d brought with me about what I might create. I was compelled!
The story gets longer…
The first incarnation of the story, produced for the project was short – six pages and a cover. Since then, I have intermittently revisited and developed the work. In 2018 a twenty page black and white version was exhibited in Saintfield library. In 2019 at the New Networks for Nature Conference in York, I approached Children’s illustrator, Yuval Zommer, clutching a bundle of tatty photocopied pages. He very kindly offered his thoughts and advice on my work.
…and longer!
Another bursary, again from Ards and North Down, gave me the chance to work for a week at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, developing the forty two page colour version of the story. This version was exhibited in 2021 at the Scottish Ornithologists Club in Aberlady as part of a three person show “Wild Moments” with Melanie Mascarenhas, Lorna Hamilton. A pdf version was also included with the 2021 Copeland Bird Observatory Annual report
The story of this story still continues as my ultimate aim is to find a way to have it published.
