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Emma Tuck AssocSBA
Biography
Emma was born in Bristol in 1970. She studied at the University of Leeds, graduating in 1991 with a first class degree in English Literature. S he then worked in magazine publishing for a number of years before moving to a smallholding in West Wales in 2003.
She is a self-taught artist and has drawn for most of her life but it was not until she began living among the uplands of Mynydd Pencarreg, near Lampeter, that she began to draw and paint in earnest – focusing in particular on the plants growing on the mountains around her home and at the Cefn Blaenau Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
This work developed into a series of Rotring pen-and-ink drawings documenting the wild plants growing in a range of native Welsh habitats including hay meadows, acid grasslands, hedgerows and woodlands. She takes an ecological approach to her subject matter – you will not see individual specimens floating in white space but a densely packed portrait of an entire plant community, including wildflowers, grasses, ferns, mosses and lichens. This work was exhibited as ‘Microcosm’ at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in 2008.
Since then she has moved on to drawing species that many people would regard as weeds: Dandelion, Ribwort Plantain, Bracken, Herb Robert, Wild Angelica. Bringing these neglected beauties to greater attention is part of the appeal with this work, as well as the elegant structure of these plants which informs the composition of her pieces. Drawings from this series were exhibited with the Society of Botanical Artists in 2010 and 2011, when she was awarded Associate membership.
In addition to working in pen and ink, Emma is also a printmaker and is currently producing a series of linocuts for the National Botanic Garden of Wales. The aim of the collaborative project is to highlight the Garden’s scientific work in DNA barcoding the 1,143 flowering plants of Wales, and will be exhibited at the Garden during autumn 2011.
Contact Details
Email: emma.tuck[at]roomtolive.co.uk