As announced in September, John Busby was recently named as a "Master Artist" at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, USA. The award demonstrates a worldwide appreciation for the talents of John which is reflected in 'The Remarkable Mr. Busby', a new article for the Wildlife Art Journal by its Editor, Todd Wilkinson. The article explains why American wildlife artists now revere John as the greatest living bird artist:

'A retrospective glance at the pure genius of British painter John Busby, who carries forward the mantel of fine avian art.'

Read more at the Wildlife Art Journal.

The past few months have been busy ones for Andrew and Debbie, curators of The Land Gallery. Andrew is a keen beekeeper and due to this passion, he has developed a motif to his work which centres on bees and other Hymenoptera.

Consequently, we have been working on a sister website to The Land Gallery which is dedicated to the subject of bees in art. The new site has been online for a few weeks already, but now that we have been able to add work from several leading artists, we are ready to announce it here at The Land Gallery. You will notice the Bees in Art logo on many of our pages, and this can be clicked to take you to the new site whenever you want (and the reverse is true for The Land Gallery when visiting Bees in Art).

So, if you would like to purchase some bee related art or read about and follow the activities of a beekeeper, please pop over to Bees in Art, the first online art gallery dedicated to the humble bee!

Andrew and Debbie would like to extend their congratulations to Katrina who was married recently. We wish her and her husband, Hein, all the best for their future together.

As a consequence of their marriage, we have updated the content of Katrina's pages and the rest of the site with her new surname, van Grouw, so if you are looking for her work please find it here in the future.

Andrew Tyzack has donated three original artworks to RCA Secret 2009. The Royal College of Art hosts RCA Secret annually to raise money to assist young artists studying at the RCA. The name of the artist who created each postcard is kept secret. Last year 2700 postcards went on show, and were sold in aid of the RCA’s Fine Art Student Award Fund. Last year many well known artists were exhibited, including: Grayson Perry, Anish Kapoor, Quentin Blake, Manolo Blahnik, Tracey Emin, Paula Rego, Mimmo Paladino, Yoko Ono and Olafur Eliasson.

Open at Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU from Friday 13 November until Friday 20 November 11-6pm, 11-8pm on Thursday 19 November. Free admission.

The cards will be sold to the public in a huge one-day sale, with each postcard costing just £40, regardless of whether it has been made by a famous name or a current art student. The Sale will be open on Saturday 21 November, 8am-6pm.

RCA Secret postcard by Andrew Tyzack

We are pleased to announce that John Busby has been named the 2009 Master Wildilfe Artist in 'Birds in Art'. The exhibition of his work runs initially at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA, from 12th September to 15th November 2009. You can hear John speak about his life as a wildlife artist at 10 a.m. on the 12th September during the opening day Meet the artists event at the Woodson.

Following the stay at the Woodson, the exhibition will then tour the USA and will be on view at the following museums:

• Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan, 10th December 2009 to 14th February 2010
• Museum of the Red River, Oklahoma, 7th March 2010 to 15th May 2010
• Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Arizona, 3rd July 2010 to 5th May 2010
• Wildling Art Museum, California, 27th September 2010 to 2nd January 2011

As part of the Summer Drawing Classes for AlumniRCA members, Professor John Norris Wood will be running a course titled “Natural forms/drawing from Nature.”

The class is due to take place on Wednesday, 16th September 2009, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

If you are an Alumni of the Royal College of Art, London, please contact Mark Parkin on 020 7590 4115 or send him an e-mail.

Currently working in his Scottish summer studio, David Koster has provided us with copies of two new woodcut prints: 'Cuckoo wrasse II' and 'Mackerel' with edition numbers 2 of 20 and 3 of 30 respectively. Please visit his collection to view them.

The Land Gallery is very pleased to recommend Wildlife Art Journal. Based in the USA, Wildlife Art Journal is forging links with North American, European and Worldwide artists specialising in wildlife subjects. From Todd Wilkinson, Editor of the journal:

Wildlife Art Journal

"Where the Art of Nature connects the World
We want to connect with you wherever you are"

"We revel in the idea that cultural and biological richness is local.  But we live in a global world. And where the art of nature is concerned, in all its forms, we are committed to giving you a global online treeless magazine that offers easy access to stories whenever you want them and diverse, voluminous visual content. At Wildlife Art Journal (www.wildlifeartjournal.com), there's one more thing you need to know:  We realize keenly that there's a lot Yankees can learn—and much to admire—from the work of their counterparts on this side of the Atlantic.  We want you to exert your presence in our magazine.  We really mean it. In the past, art magazines from North America have taken only a token interest in covering the nature-related art community in the UK and on the continent.  We intend to change that."

Todd Wilkinson
Editor of Wildlife Art Journal 
2009

About Todd Wilkinson

Todd Wilkinson has been an environmental journalist as well as a writer about art in wildlife and the natural world for much of the past 25 years (though he started as a violent crime reporter in Chicago and grew up in the lake country of Minnesota).  Since the late 1980s, he has based himself in Bozeman, Montana, within the northern Rocky Mountains of the American West and has traveled widely and internationally on magazine assignments.  (He spent half of one teenage year in East Anglia near Ipswich and it left a huge impact on him).   He celebrates the traditional and history of naturalistic painting, sculpture and photography, but believes artists can benefit, in unprecedented ways, from modern connections, especially in an age like this when there are shared monumental environmental challenges.  He would like to hear from artists in Europe.  You can drop him an email at: editor@wildlifeartjournal.com

Anna Kirk-Smith has just returned from lecturing at John Busby's drawing course held on Bass Rock, Scotland. Here, alongside John Busby and David Measures, Anna taught the drawing of birds from life among the thousands of Bass Rock gannets. Some examples of her work, generated at St. Abb’s on the same trip, are below. If you would like to see these pieces and others in the flesh, they are due to be exhibited at the British Birdwatching Fair in Rutland, from the 21st to 23rd August 2009.

Debbie Grice was selected from among several hundred artists to exhibit at the Northern Print Biennale, a major international event. Debbie's mezzotint engravings are being displayed in Newcastle's Laing Art Gallery alongside prints by artists such as Jim Dine, Michael Craig-Martin, Louise Bourgeois and Richard Hamilton.

The limited edition mezzotints are now available to purchase from Debbie’s collection at the Land Gallery.

A reminder that you can still go and see Hemlata’s work at the British Museum as part of its India-themed exhibitions this summer. Her work is on display beneath the central atrium of the museum, in the foyer of the Clore Education Centre. Also, note that Hemlata is due to give a workshop on Indian Botanical painting this Thursday, 18th June (from 14.00 to 17.30) so you might have the opportunity to meet her if you go along.

Andrew Tyzack has provided new artwork inspired by animals from his travels around the world. Included is his four colour lino cut of Painted Dogs seen whilst on a camping trip in Botswana's Chobe National Park. Andrew has donated copies of this work to Painted Dog Conservation and some were auctioned at an event held at the Natural History Museum, London, raising money to help conserve the African Hunting Dog. Please visit his collection to view this and his other new works.

Robert Gillmor has provided us with print no.’s 61 to 64 (inclusive) of his “Turnstones” lino cut which is now available to purchase and view in his collection.

We have received six new mixed media textiles from Nicola Henley with each representing a continuation of the theme of her work, the Ravens, Gulls and other bird life of coastal Ireland. Please visit her collection to view them.

Four new paintings and two drawings from Debbie Grice have been added to the gallery so please visit her collection to view them. The charcoal drawings are landscapes of the view toward Rosedale in North Yorkshire while the acrylic paintings draw their inspiration from the landscape and coast of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

We have added a new feature to the website which will make it easier for visitors to browse the artwork on display. In the navigation sidebar to the left of each page you will now find a new “Artwork” button:

Clicking this will lead you to an index of the different media exhibited at The Land Gallery:

Clicking any of the buttons for a medium will then show you thumbnails of all the pieces that we are exhibiting in that format, such as all the drawings on display. When viewing an index, simply click the thumbnail image of a piece to be taken to the corresponding artist’s collection.

The indexes can also be visited by using the navigation banner at the top of the page:

Click the image in the banner to visit the index for the named medium. Note that you can use the arrows that appear at either end (when you hover your mouse pointer over the banner) to scroll through the images in the banner:

We’re pleased to announce that Hemlata Pradhan recently presented her first exhibition in Kathmandu, Nepal where she exhibited some new work. If you would like to see these pieces in person, she will be presenting them as part of another exhibition in May and June of this year, this time at the British Museum in London, UK. The exhibition starts on Friday, 1st May 2009 and ends on Sunday, 28th June 2009.

As a complement to the exhibition, Hemlata also informs us that she will be holding workshops in botanical illustration for adults on Friday, 12th June and again on Thursday, 18th June. If you wish to participate, the workshops will be afternoon sessions. We hope to provide you with more information about the exhibition and workshops closer to the time.

Note, the new work is not yet for sale but example pieces are shown below. However, you can view Hemlata’s currently available work in her collection.

We have a further 3 new pieces from Gary for sale so please visit his collection to view them.

As well as more stock of “Scene near Lewes”, we have also added several more photographs from Gary. Visit his collection to see all the newly added material of which a few examples are shown below:

We now have Gary’s “Scene near Lewes” back in stock, so please visit his collection to make a purchase:

We can also obtain all of Gary’s work at sizes different to those advertised in his collection, so please contact us for pricing and availability if you would like a quote for any of his works at your preferred dimensions.

A few minor web site alterations have been made, the most visible of which is the new icon at the top right corner of this block of news. If you have software or a browser that supports news feeds, please click this icon to add The Land Gallery’s news feed to your subscriptions.

In addition to this icon, we’ve also made a few improvements to our collection pages: clicking the thumbnail image for each piece will now show you the larger image and, when looking at that larger image, you will also find a “Contact us for more information” link to make it easier for you to ask us anything about the piece or the artist you are viewing at the time.

We have added several new pieces to Harriet’s collection of sculptures made from recycled-steel or found objects. Each piece can be commissioned by contacting us directly - note that due to the size and weight of each of Harriet’s works, a quote for postage and packing can only be provided once we receive a delivery address.

Andrew and Debbie have collaborated with Martin Maywood of Mezzotint.co.uk to produce a short film showcasing pieces created using the Mezzotint technique, including two pieces from Andrew and Debbie:

Martin’s Mezzotint plates are made and cut to order, offering the finest genuine pre-rocked copper plate for mezzotint printing. Please visit Mezzotint.co.uk for more information and how to order.

The film, along with a collection of gallery tours for many of our artists, can also be viewed on our YouTube Channel. Here’s an example of a couple of our gallery tours, showcasing Bruce Pearson’s and Yukki Yaura’s work:

In 2005, The Land Gallery negotiated with the BBC to get David’s ‘Great Eagle Owl’ lithograph featured in their programme, “The Natural World: The Return of the Eagle Owl” (which can be viewed on Google video; the lithograph appears not long after the 4 minute mark). Therefore, we’re very pleased to receive another copy for sale, which can be viewed in his collection:

In addition, we now have another copy of David’s ‘Koi Carp’ etching for sale:

Robert Gillmor has provided us with print no.’s 37 to 40 (inclusive) of his “Blackbird and Rowan” lino cut which is available to view at the top of his collection.

Anna has sent us three more new pieces which are at the top of her collection. Each is an acrylic on paper.

To kick off the new year, Anna has forwarded us 4 new mixed media pieces ranging in price from £290 to £695. These appear at the top of her collection, so please visit her pages to view them. In addition, Anna has sent us more information about herself and her work so we would encourage you to visit her updated profile to find out more about the artist behind these excellent new pieces.

If you are following The Land Gallery’s news page or if you are just visiting for the first time, to keep the page loading in a reasonable time frame for those with less speedy web connections, please note that we have archived all the content from 2008. However, it is still available by clicking the ‘2008’ link at the bottom of the list of categories to the left of this page.

We’re a little late, but we would like to wish all our visitors, customers and artists a happy new year for 2009.

Since the redesign of the gallery’s website went live in September 2008, we have had a very successful few months. Given the economic situation at the moment, we would like to thank those customers who have purchased from The Land Gallery and we hope that the pieces they have bought brighten their lives for the foreseeable future.

Similarly, we hope our visitors continue to enjoy their browsing through our unique collection of works and that our artists have a productive and successful year!