Solo exhibition at Knepp Rewilding Project
Invitation and information for visitors 15th August - 6th September
The two big oil paintings that form the centrepiece of my Dungscape show are tantalisingly close to finished. They will be shown alongside the drawings, sketches, prints and more, at the world-renowned “trailblazing 3,500-acre rewilding project” in Horsham, West Sussex.
I’m honoured that Charles Burrell (co-owner of Knepp estate and Knepp Wildland Foundation trustee) will be opening the show. Here he is with Erica McAlister (Principal curator of flies and fleas at the Natural History Museum, who has helped enormously with Dungscape):
The paintings have much more texture and colour than can be seen in a photo, with lots of surprise details - I’d LOVE to welcome you at the opening event, so have put together some (hopefully useful) information here about plans. Maybe you can spot a Noon fly, like the one Erica pointed out in the video, below?!
I cannot recommend highly enough staying at/near Knepp if you can, to explore the whole estate, with binoculars and a [sketch]book. The cafe, restaurant and shop are all amazing. The birdsong is deafening.
You can read about the whole Knepp project in Isabella Tree’s Sunday Times bestseller book Wilding (available here). I loved listening to Isabella reading it herself on Audible. Isabella is the co-owner of Knepp Estate, author, and a Knepp Wildland Foundation trustee.
It’s been such fun sharing the progress of Dungscape, all my research is shared here.
This short video has been a surprise hit on Instagram, reaching 50k views already.
I’m looking forward to spending June producing two linocuts to include in the show. A purple emperor sipping dung, and a hornet robberfly murdering a greenbottle. Tame, aesthetically pleasing stuff that would look great on the kitchen wall.
Wishing you a lovely sunny bank holiday weekend, hope to see you at Knepp in August, or at The Mall Galleries in London - I will be showing there with the SWA in June, and with the SWLA (Dungscape) in October.
Gail xxx
PS - whether you’re a fan of a manicure, a ‘curated strip’, or no-mow May, for information on how to use your lawn to help the polinators and pest controllers featured in Dungscape, without bringing in a herd of cattle: