Reasons to be Wild – The Artist, the Scientist and the Wildlife Biologist.
We are three sisters who created @Reasonstobewild to spread awareness of British Wildlife through art and engagement. We were lucky enough to grow up surrounded by and exploring the outdoors, which sparked our love for nature. We want to encourage as many people as possible to enjoy their surroundings too.
We love bringing groups together and collaborating with a wide variety of audiences. We have run creative workshops within our community and want to do more to encourage people to reconnect with nature. Molly has a masters in Wildlife Biology and Conservation and is a fountain of conservation knowledge for the next species to help and promote. Annie also has a background in biology and has been working more recently as an events coordinator, which is invaluable for our workshops. Emily is a professional artist and printmaker with more than 10 years experience whose expressive artwork can stir up many emotions.
We have collaborated with a number of people and projects, including The Conservation Volunteers, an incredible charity connecting people with green spaces and bringing communities together. We love what they do and support their work through donations from our art sales. Check out their projects near you – https://www.tcv.org.uk/getinvolved
We also have 6 wildlife photographers on board. Our most recent associate, Wildlife Photographer Joshua Copping, captured the beautiful shot that Emily has used for this charcoal drawing. Check him out on instagram @joshuacopping, his work is incredible!
As our Ecologist, Molly brought our awareness to the curlew and it’s declining situation. They are charming birds with their impressive bill and their distinctive call which always makes us smile. We are lucky enough to be surrounded by farmland during this lockdown and almost every day have heard the precious curlews in the fields nesting near our home. “Last year I saw Billy Clapham’s video ‘Keeper of the Call’. It is beautifully filmed and I hadn’t realised that curlews were in such decline.” After seeing this documentary we were inspired to help this wonderful bird and thought we could spread awareness through Emily’s artwork. Leading up to World Curlew Day we felt we wanted to do something to help stop their decline. We also realised the importance of the work Curlew Country is doing for the survival of the curlew and we wanted to support them.’
We are celebrating #worldcurlewday with a limited edition curlew print by artist and sister @EmilyCrookshank. 10% of proceeds from every print will be going to Curlew Country.
You can pre-order your limited edition print from our website’s shop www.reasonstobewild.com. The print is available to purchase framed or unframed – our mother happens to be a professional picture framer so it really is a full family enterprise!
Proceeds from sales will be donated to @CurlewCountry and @TCVtweets.
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