Shag, Jane Smith

A chance encounter on a remote cliff top between an artist and a scientist was the inspiration behind a new art exhibition at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum.

Ellie Owen is the RSPB’s lead scientist for the Future of the Atlantic Marine Environment (FAME) project, and was working on the seabird cliffs of Colonsay when she met wildlife artist Jane Smith

Since then Jane has spent time with the FAME team, translating the sights and sounds of our seabirds into paint (you can see one of her glorious pictures in a previous blog post here), and she also wrote an inspiring account of her experiences in Birds magazine earlier this year.

The FAME project has helped us see in to the secret world of seabirds such as kittiwake, shag, razorbill, guillemot and fulmar. Now Jane has teamed up with five other artists to capture their unique interpretations of the FAME project.  Bringing together art and science, Jane said: “Ellie and I decided to work together to share a little of the magic of a seabird colony with people not lucky enough to experience it first-hand.”  The exhibition will also help raise awareness of the plight of our threatened seabirds. 

Get a glimpse of this world for yourself at the ‘SEA art in a different way’ exhibition – it runs from 13 -21 October. Entry is free.  For more information click here

The FAME project is funded by the European Commission through the European Regional Development Fund, Atlantic Area Transnational Programme to the sum of €2.2 million with an additional €1.2 million funded by the project partners.  Investing in our common future