Rebecca Jewell: Knotted Wrack (Orange)

Rebecca Jewell b. 1963 studied archaeology and anthropology at the University of Cambridge and completed a doctorate in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art in 2004. Her intricate drawings of artefacts and bird specimens, and her unique feather collages, are inspired both by material culture collections in museums and a cross- cultural examination of the human exploitation and veneration of birds.

Rebecca is a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London (FZSL), Fellow of the Linnean Society (FLS) and Member of the Art Workers’ Guild (AWG). Jewell divides her time between Fen Ditton and London, and recently completed an artist residency at the British Museum as part of the ‘In Storage’ project.

Rebecca Jewell has devoted her residency time to develop her ongoing study of seaweeds another, often less understood, element of Britain’s natural world. There are over 650 species in coastal waters . Her bold graphic nature prints in which inked specimens are placed on paper then run through a press  reveal something of the huge diversity of these underwater marine algae and link to scientific research exploring the impact of warming seas on biodiversity.