Melanie is an artist and wildlife carer who has lived in the Northern Rivers for 45 years. She has been caring for wildlife since 2002 and now specialises in birds of prey. Melanie's creative inspiration rises from the abundance of beauty in our natural world. She works in a variety of mediums, most recently lino prints, drawings and political/environmental cartoons.
Melanie's contributions - Masked Owl
Multidisciplinary artist Claire Chatfield has been creating art, media and music with a sustainability focus for over 20 years. She has exhibited her art around Australia and overseas and is now based in the Victorian town of Queenscliff. She studied with Dynamic Drawing facilitator Ron Curran in Byron Bay NSW and has since established her own Art and Upcycling business a few years ago. She creates one off artworks using found and recycled materials and teaches her unique eco-art techniques including rag weaving and collage. She is also an accomplished singer/songwriter.
Claire's contributions - Potoroo 1 - Potoroo 2 - Potoroo 3
Donna has been teaching design for 20 years, firstly in Sydney and now in the Northern
Rivers, and has almost 35 years experience in the graphic design industry. She is inspired
by Modernist design and fabric designers Lucienne Day and Florence Broadhurst, both
fantastic designers and also astute business women. They not only inspire her design
work, but her other creative practices - linocuts and fabric design. She also draws
inspiration from her surroundings – what she finds in her garden. There are so many
incredible creatures and plants around – particularly when you get up close to them.
Donna's contributions - Goanna - Banksia - and photos of burnt forests.
Beki Davies is a contemporary visual artist who resides on the east coast of Australia. She currently holds her Diploma of Visual Arts, Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts, and graduated from her Bachelor of Art and Design in 2019 and is currently undertaking her Honours year at Southern Cross University.
Beki has worked extensively in the Arts industry, with 15 years as a professional tattooist and is a prolific Illustrator, printmaker and ceramicist. Her work explores our relationship with the natural world and how Humans experience the environment as something separate from themselves.
Beki's contributions - Python and Banksia
Peter Derrett has been photographing people, animals and events for a lifetime - for magazines, newspapers and private commissions both in Australia and overseas. He has published various photographic books including Old Dogs, Dogs in Venice and For the Love of Elephants (with Suzanne McCourt). Peter has held numerous exhibitions including 2018 Heart and Soul, Lismore Regional Gallery. His photographs also appear regularly in newspapers and magazines.
Peter's contributions - Studio photography of flowers and foliage from Bungabbee including Forest Sheoak, Red Kamala, Banksia and Eucalypt - (see our Bungabbee Forest Photos page)
WIRES Rescuer, interior designer and life drawing artist, I am passionate about giving a voice to our
local wildlife. It is crucial that we keep their habitat intact for them to thrive in. We have to make
biodiversity a priority for both their sake and our children’s future.
Alice's contributions - Flying Foxes - Image 1 - Image 2 - Image 3 - Image 4 - Image 5 - Image 6
Emily has been a graphic designer and illustrator for 10 years and has a personal connection and passion to all things wildlife and conservation. When she is not working she spends her time painting water colours of various animals and loves to go bird watching with her partner.
Emily's contributions - Green Tree Frog - Pobblebonk Frog - Lyrebird - White Cockatoo
Amanda Doran is passionate about our environment and our connection to it. Her teaching platform is to foster critical thinkers with compassionate hearts - the world needs both of these. Amanda's art reflects her connection to nature and community. She uses a variety of mediums and feels blessed to live in the Northern Rivers.
Amanda's contributions - Antechinus - Birdwing Butterfly - Goanna - Pademelon - Nest Box - Psyllids and Lerps
Emmeline is a self-taught visual artist, living in the Northern Rivers. She loves to create in a variety of styles, weaving together her passion for Mother Earth and her belief in the interconnectedness of life. She believes that art can heal and open doors to new ways of being, encouraging us to reconnect to ourselves and all of life as a parthway to a new culture of unity.
Emmeline's contributions - Squirrel Glider Family - Image 1 - Image 2 - Image 3 - Image 4 -
Glider on Banksia - Glider Juvenile
Layla is a local soft pastel artist offering pet portraits and commissions. With a background in wildlife science, creating artworks of our unique fauna and flora is a passion of Layla's.
Layla's contributions - Feathertail Glider - Yellow-footed Antechinus and Shorter Rainforest Ground-Beetle
I am grateful to be a part of this online story and believe it is for such a good cause. I love Australian native wildlife and the environment. It needs to be protected for generations to come.
Tamara's contributions - Marbled Frogmouth
Gwendolyn Gray is a children's book author/artist based on the outskirts of Casino, Northern NSW. She has written and illustrated four children's books inspired by the native waterfowl, particularly a duckling on horseshoe Lagoon where she lives. As an acrylic artist she is also a founding member of Casino Art Group and a long-time admirer of Beatrix Potter.
Gwen's contributions - Kookaburra and Rosella
I'm Lea, I come from France and I've been travelling around Australia since February 2020. I really enjoy
exploring this beautiful country. I love the Australian wildlife which is so different from European wildlife. I
had the chance to spend 3 weeks at Araucaria Wildlife Sanctuary, which was such an amazing wildlife
experience to discover and learn more about marsupials. I love to draw animals that I met during my
travels, so for me it was a pleasure to participate in this digital book to save the beautiful Bungabbee
Forest.
Lea's contributions - Joeys in care - Feathertail Glider and Wattle Flower
Natalie Herington is a children’s book illustrator and watercolour artist who lives in Tintenbar NSW where they as a family are restoring and protecting the land for wildlife and biodiversity.
Natalie's contributions - King Parrot and Lorikeet - Kookaburra - Magpie - Koalas - Wrens - Night sky
Phil is a local photographer who is committed to a lifestyle living gently with the planet. With his wife he is often out exploring the bush, creeks, waterfalls and beaches of the region. At home, he plants rare native trees to encourage insects and birds. Phil is involved with Friends of the Koala, collecting leaves for the koala hospital. Phil also leads monthly guided walks and helps with working bees at Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens, where he has also taken photographs for the calendar and greeting cards.
Phil's contributions - Photos of Bungabbee (view the gallery)
As a Natural History Illustrator & Ecologist, I combine my skills to produce art for a range of projects that
support engagement in, and understanding of our natural world, including this project! The power of
community and the resilience of nature have always been my inspiration, and I hope this project and
book inspires a deeper connection and love of nature in your local environment and beyond.
Henrietta's contributions - Echidna and Forest Redgum tree - Forest Redgum foliage and flower - Yellow-bellied Glider 1 - Yellow-bellied Glider 2
Kerry Negus is an Earth loving artist from the Northern Rivers NSW. Her arts practice is quite eclectic, ranging from being a tattoo artist to basket weaving, silk raising, spinning and processing to drawings created using dirt and plant materials and hand made utensils.
Kerry's contributions - Microbats in Hollow - Little Bentwing Bat - Habitat Tree and Trees with Hollows
Formerly a UK portrait painter, Rachel has spent the past two decades living in the forest under the watchful eye of Wollumbin. Graduating from BSA in December 2019 Rachel said "Intrigued by grids, rhythms and fractals embedded all around us, I now bring elements of experimental abstraction into my practice... As we are moved intuitively by patterns in nature, music or the micro/macro axis of the cosmos, so may we feel ourselves drawn (or painted) into the 'bigger picture'. Rachel's graduation show theme was the significance and habitat of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo in the shadow of human development.
Rachel's contributions - Glossy-black Cockatoo - Glossy-black Cockatoo Pair
Dailan is a passionate conservationist. His love of the natural world and his desire to depict it has led him down life's path. He is awed by the vibrancy of the natural world across its spectrum, from deserts to rainforests, and down beneath the waves. His dismay at the carnage and degradation he has witnessed has forced him to spend more time on activism than his art. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his services to forest conservation in 2004.
Dailan's contribution - Quoll
Oral is third generation Widjabal (Lismore) clan. He was born on Cubawee Mission, not far from Bungabbee, and lived there for the first 2 years of his life before moving to Lismore and later Evans Head and Ocean Shores. Oral's paintings reflect his close connection to the Bundjalung land and culture, and feature many native plants and animals. His works are exhibited widely and he has also been commissioned to create numerous murals and street art throughout the Northern Rivers area.
Oral's contributions - Goanna - Glider
Jennifer Unwin is an artist, photographer, printmaker and lover of the natural world. Her photographs and prints are collected locally and interstate. Through Eventzbiz Art Design she is involved in commissions, events, projects and consultancy and exhibits locally and regionally.
Jenny's contributions - Photos of Bungabbee (view the gallery)
Rose creates art and design work under the name Dead End Design. Born and raised in the Northern Rivers she is inspired by the surrounding flowers, leaves and trees.
Rose's contributions - Eucalypt Flower 1 - Eucalypt Flower 2 - Eucalypt Flower 3
Kim has been painting on and off for most of her life. She has a passion for art and is particularly fond of painting domestic animals. She goes through different phases, where she will only paint baby animals with the odd abstract painting thrown in. Kim mainly works with acrylic on canvas, but has branched out into pencil and ink drawings lately and has taken a new interest in depicting native animals.
Kim's contributions - Sugar Glider and Little Lorikeet
Talia's contributions - Hands - Hands Feeding - Man 1 - Man 2 - Man 3 - Crowd scene
