Print Scilly - Original artwork by Vickie Heaney

Print Scilly Logo.

About

Many of my happiest childhood memories revolve around the sea – be it in Northern Ireland fishing for crabs in the rock-pools of the Antrim Coast or on the Isles of Scilly poring over the St. Martin’s flats for seashells. In fact I’ve always been interested in natural history, so that in depth scientific and artistic study of the natural world was a natural progression.

After completing my Zoology degree at Oxford University, I went on to study for a PhD in Animal Behaviour at the University of Glasgow, specialising in seabirds.

I then completed a series of ornithological research contracts for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, as well as working as a cruise ship lecturer in Antarctica and a TV researcher at the BBC's Natural History Unit.

Always sketching and photographing my study species during research work, I became interested in print-making after attending night-school classes in Bristol in 2001. Over the next few years I studied many different print-making techniques, including Japanese wood block, collagraph, photo-guavre and copper plate etching. However, my primary love and therefore the majority of my art work employs three main techniques; screen-printing, lino-cut and dry point etching.

Eventually, my love of the sea and in particular Scilly (developed from annual family camping trips to St. Martin’s) drew me back to the islands, and I made the move to St. Mary’s in 2004. Working from my studio at Porthmellon, my inspiration is taken from the natural world around me, including the birds, fish and shore-life, as well as the boats and lighthouses of Scilly.

Vickie Heaney