In the spectacular setting of Findhorn, Moray Art Centre champions local artists and celebrates the North of Scotland’s rich culture with creative workshops, classes, seasonal programmes, residencies and events for all to enjoy.
Now, internationally-exhibited American artist Angela Manno is set to exhibit her work, bringing endangered wildlife species into the visual language of medieval icon painting. Sacred Biodiversity: Icons of the Late Cenozoic has met acclaim on its tour of the Northeastern US, and this is the first time the work has been exhibited in the UK. It comprises 23 original egg tempera and gold leaf icons alongside 11 high-quality reproductions, depicting threatened and endangered species across major biological classifications – fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, plants and invertebrates – representing ecosystems from around the globe. The exhibition also incorporates Manno’s recent icons portraying factory-farmed animals.
Manno works in the formal tradition of 14th–16th century Russian iconography, employing techniques historically reserved for saints and holy figures, and by rendering non-human species in this sacred visual language, she seeks to reframe biodiversity loss as not only a scientific and environmental crisis, but a spiritual and moral one – a ‘ ‘holocaust of Nature’ that we are witnessing in species extinction, at a rate of 10,000–100,000 per year, as she points out. She says, ‘… [the late] Biologist E O Wilson [who praised the series of work] estimated that if current trends continue, half of Earth’s species may be extinct by the end of this century. Our survival depends upon a re-enchantment with the Earth as a living reality.’
In addition to the original works on display, the exhibition incorporates reproductions of icons held in private collections, loaned specially for the exhibition, will be shown.
There will be an Artist’s Talk on 29th March at 3pm, and a Panel Discussion on 15th April, 6–7pm, expanding the conversation around art, ecology, and faith.
Well-known as a spiritual community and eco-village focused on sustainability, the Art Centre has announced its extensive Easter and Summer workshops programme, including: an Easter Holiday Youth Art Workshop, Portrait Painting in Oils, Pigment Painting: Sea, Sky & Studio, Exploring Painting and Drawing Outdoors, Flowers Between Nature and Imagination, Patterns in the Garden: Natural Forms and the Artist Book, Colourful Forms: Surface and Abstraction between 2D and 3D, Portrait Painting in Oils, The Figure In An Invented Space: A Patient Investigation in Oils, Creative Experience of the Natural Environment: From Drawing to Animation, Being Human in a Hybrid World: A Generative Art Workshop, and Making Art in Times of Crises. See the Centre’s website for details.
