NATURAL SCIENCE ILLUSTRATOR, ARTIST & PHOTOGRAPHER B.Sc. (Zoology) B.F.A. (Honours in Wildlife Illustration)
Rebecca Robinson has a creative eye with a passion for nature, art, photography and travel. Dedicated to pursuing her interests and determined to earn a living doing so, she has worked in a number of different fields: photography, natural science illustration and graphic design.
Rebecca has had the opportunity to live and travel extensively throughout the world. She was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1971 and grew up in Finland, Africa and America.
She later sought further education in Australia, graduating from the University of Melbourne in Australia with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology in 1998.
Although she always managed to do a sketch now and again, her main focus at that time was science. It was not until her final year of study that she was encouraged to take her artistic talent seriously with the aim one day, perhaps, of marrying the two disciplines. Once Rebecca made the decision to finally give art the attention it deserved, there was no turning back.
She then went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Honours in Wildlife Illustration, at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia in 1999. Early in the year, she won first prize of the Black and White Illustration division Australian Entomological Society Insect Illustration Competition. Then in August 1999 she was awarded winner of the Margaret Senior National Parks and Wildlife Scholarship for Plant and Wildlife Illustration.
Shortly after leaving the course Rebecca was offered a part-time position in the U.S. at the art and graphics department of the Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). In 2001 she left UCSB to become a professional freelance natural science illustrator and photographer.
In October 2003 she participated in a joint exhibition "The Art of Conservation", at the prestigious Karpeles Manuscript Museum, Santa Barbara CA, USA (www.rain.org/~karpeles/)
For the next three years she worked predominantly for one US client producing highly detailed watercolour paintings of flora and fauna. In September 2006, she exhibited this work as part of: "Artistry & Necessity: Remarkable Women Illustrators" at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara CA, USA.
Since then she has sold most of her work to private collectors, learning institutions, and has had her work published in books internationally.
She enjoys working in various mediums including watercolour, pen & ink, pencil, pastel, airbrush, digital, illustration and photography.
Natural Science Illustration is a meticulous process that involves research and observation as well as the artistic and creative challenges that are presented in any type of artwork. But for Rebecca these preliminary aspects are just as important for her motivation, inspiration and growth as an artist. Very often, for her, getting to know her subject, quietly, patiently, with sensitivity, respect and always with a questioning, open mind is just as enjoyable as applying that infamously tantalizing last stroke of the brush.
Art and photography is a means by which she can contribute to environmental conservation and education. She hopes that her work may spark curiosity and encourage a deeper understanding, and appreciation of nature. It allows Rebecca to work within her interests and to earn a living doing what she loves most.
Despite the persistent demand for illustration work and travel photography jobs, she maintains a strong desire for further creative expression, artistic growth and independence within her own art. This nomadic lifestyle has presented many unique and rare opportunities resulting in the accumulation of a large and highly collectable body of work, predominantly Australasian images.
With a particular interest in fine art photography and influence from her painting background she prefers to use the medium as a canvas - blurring the line between a journalistic, documentary style of photography and abstract, contemporary art.
Rebecca’s life has been described by some as ‘gypsy-like’ due to her constant wanderings, traveling in search of creative inspiration. Rebecca has always been drawn to places of pure wilderness. She finds inner peace and inspiration there, where the world makes most sense to her. Though the buzz of the ‘big smoke’ has become a great source for some of her best photographs. She finds balance somewhere in between, living in the seaside village Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. Though much of her time is still spent ‘walkabout’, a small village near the ocean is a pleasant base to return to.
In conjunction with a range of artistic projects she is currently working on a major pictorial book of Melbourne along with her partner and fellow photographer/artist Darroch Donald.
She sees this pictorial book, representation by 775 Art & Craft Gallery, Art Melbourne 2009 exhibition and more recently opening her own gallery (with partner Darroch Donald) in Melbourne, as exciting new opportunities towards fulfilling a career in fine art and photography.
