Drawn from Nature was formed by artists Rebecca Jewell and Sandy Ross Sykes, both alumni of the Natural History Illustration course at the Royal College of Art. They graduated in 2004 (Rebecca with a PhD and Sandy with a Masters) and have been practicing artists and art tutors ever since. Their first classes were held at the British Museum, and since then they have continued to work in exceptional venues, including Kew Gardens and the Natural History Museum. Most recently they have been running workshops at the Linnean Society, with its magnificent library and treasured natural history collections.
Sandy and Rebecca were both inspired by their teacher, Professor John Norris Wood, who taught at the RCA for over thirty years. As practising artists in their own right, Sandy and Rebecca see the sharing of their skills as a growth factor in their own work. They are deeply committed to this field and enjoy igniting that spark in the lives of others as the RCA did for them.
At Drawn from Nature Sandy and Rebecca have found through years of teaching experience that Art is an excellent channel in which to explore many different types of situations. Creativity also develops insight into different ways of thinking.
Unique to Drawn from Nature, is an exceptional collection of natural history specimens, a ‘nature table’ including exotic feathers, bird skins and wings, butterflies, seed pods, shells, skulls and eggs. This resource is available for workshops, depending on the topic of the class.
Rebecca Jewell is a London-based print-maker and collage artist. Her intricate drawings of artefacts and bird specimens, and her unique feather collages, are inspired both by material culture collections in museums (traps, cages, bird specimens), and issues around the contemporary hunting and trapping of birds, particularly in the Southern Mediterranean. Using a technique she has perfected for printing images onto feathers, Jewell collages these feathers into assemblages representing headdresses and capes. Rebecca has a PhD from the Royal College of Art (2004) and has shown work with the Rebecca Hossack Gallery and the Catto Gallery.
Her work is held in the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the British Library, the Linnean Society, the Queen’s House, Greenwich and the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, as well as in many private collections. Rebecca is a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a faculty member of the Royal Drawing School. rebeccajewell.com Instagram
Sandy Ross Sykes began her art career started as a sculptor and fine artist. In 2000 she studied botanical illustration for two years. This was followed by two years at the Royal College of Art where she studied Natural History Illustration on the same course as Rebecca. It was while on this course that she took up the challenge to paint a vanishing species of ginger or zingiberaceae found in the rainforests of SE Asia. After twelve years of trips to remote forests while based in Southern China she has returned to London where she runs with Rebecca natural history illustration workshops. Sandy believes that Art can be used not only to preserve valuable information for centuries to come but can aid awareness of conservation and nurture the personal growth of students.
Sandy’s work is to be found in many public collections including The Hunt Institute (USA), the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the Natural History Museum (London) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. She is a prize winner of both the RHS and the RCA. Sandy is also a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a member of the Art Workers Guild and the Society of Botanical Artists.
sandyrosssykes.com