“The Murmuration Tree.” All images © Fiona Watson, shared with permission
“Biology is a very visual science—macro and microscopically,” says . The Scotland-based artist channels her background in this field into a multi-media practice that spans photography, painting, land art, and printmaking. Observation, interpretation, and creativity by way of critical thinking are fundamental in both the sciences and art, and Watson harnesses these skills to create etchings of murmurations that mimic birds’ paths as they swoop through the sky. Collective flights “are extraordinary both metaphorically as shapeshifters occupying the space between heaven and earth and biologically as hundreds of organisms moving as one,” she tells Colossal.
Beginning with a digital sketch, Watson imagines various phenomenological patterns that she then translates to a copper plate using wax resists and acids. After inking the drawing, she sends it through the etching press, a process used for centuries.
The artist works out of the and has a new piece in the upcoming 50th-anniversary exhibition. Explore more of her practice on and . (via ).
“The Persistence of Sound”
“Dark Sun Murmuration”
“And Then Songs Filled the Air”
“The Kindness of Trees”
“First There is a Mountain”
“Once Upon a River”
“The Waggle Dance”
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