If a picture tells a thousand words, a new book compiled by a DOC ranger speaks volumes about the beauty and importance of New Zealand nature.
The new book celebrates the art of 29 artists
Chrissy Wickes from the Million Dollar Mouse project has brought together the work of 29 artists from the conservation community to create a new book celebrating their talents.
Chrissy Wickes put the project together
‘Creative Conservation: a celebration of artists who are wild about nature’ is a personal project for Chrissy, who has worked for DOC for twenty years.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked in some of New Zealand’s most stunning places,” she says. “Raoul, Campbell, Adams, Rangatira and Stewart Island… I love islands, the sheer volume of life on them.”
Garden Cove by Angela Newport
It was working with passionate artists in these beautiful places that first sparked the idea of creating a book.
“The idea came from years of working alongside a whole variety of talented artists out there in the scrub,” says Chrissy. “When I put the call out for artists I was flooded with the most amazing response from the far North to the deep South.”
People from all regions – as far afield as Raoul Island – contributed pictures of their work along with a short piece of writing explaining their connection to nature and how they express it in art.
Director-General Lou Sanson contributed the foreword for the book.
Chrissy says she is now approaching publishers to get the book out there where the public can enjoy it.
Kaimanawa by Sonia Frimmel
“I wanted to celebrate the wonderfully talented and mostly unknown artists who are working in the field of conservation.”
29 artists featured in the book include many DOC staff, past and present.
