JAMIE GOULD, Lincoln

Last Updated: 20 January 2010 273 views No Comment Posted by: B-Side Empire

Name: Jamie Gould

University: University of Lincoln

Course: Contemporary Decorative Crafts and Fine Art

“Birds are symbolic of freedom, peace and fragility. Flocks of birds can stir emotions of awe, fear and majesty. Ornithologists have documented birds for many centuries; capturing them from life with accuracy and realism. I have studied birds from life and in photographs: my drawings strive to obtain a high amount of realism; alluding to the works of bird artists such as John Gould and Edward Lear.

Birds are often displayed in museums: taxidermic creatures posed in life-like positions despite the fact they are dead. The creation of this piece is something that could look vivid and realistic, but consists of studies of bird images. Both are constructed around something that was once a live, physical being.

The process of drawing creatures from life in order to understand them has become a rarity; the lost art of observation and drawing belongs to a time of discovery. Contemporary artists such as Mark Dion and Mark Fairnington highlight bird specimens in their work; taxonomical museum creatures and endangered species are focused on.

I document English garden birds, some which are often overlooked. The species are juxtaposed as quiet, unobtrusive birds become the centre of the piece: outnumbering the other more common creature.

Short-toed Treecreepers are few in numbers, and characteristically, they never flock together. Starlings create huge aerial formations, with many thousands of them flying together to form a swirling mass in the sky.

In the piece, the roles are reversed, as the starling becomes a solitary creature among a large, seething cloud of other birds. The piece consists of drawings of Treecreepers and Starlings; taken from the shelter of the sketchbook, and brought to life on the wall. The birds adapt to the space, forming the shapes as the flock grows; spreading across the walls. It is the portrayal of often familiar birds in an unfamiliar composition; only a few hundred Short-toed Treecreepers exist, whereas Starling numbers reach to over a million on the British Isles.

The piece intends to highlight issues of common and endangered birds: if all of the members of one species were gathered together, they could easily fit in the small space. The lone Starling becomes lost in a swirling mass of foreign birds: Certhia Brachydactyla.”