Interview With Sharon Field, Award-winning Botanical Artist

This interview was conducted by Selva Ozelli

Tell us about how you became an award winning Botanical Artist?

I have always liked plants and years ago decided to do a weekend course in botanical art. I also drew inspiration from fellow artists. And from then on, I just kept practicing and learning more about this art form over time. After a long career in the Australian Public Service—including many years living and working in Papua New Guinea as well as on humanitarian programs in Africa and the Pacific—in 2009 I left my job to become a full-time artist. Having also served for 20 years as a volunteer firefighter protecting Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands (also known as the area around Canberra, the location of Australia’s Federal Government), I became acutely aware of the interconnected global climate and biodiversity crises and had the urge to visually articulate it with my  art all its manifestations.

Tell us about your 3000 days... and counting… scroll project.

Haunted by visions of distressed ecosystems and confronted by the scientific facts in the United Nation’s IPCC 2021 Report—including the scale of work that needs doing to transition to zero emission energy systems while drawing down excess carbon from the atmosphere before 2030— I  counted the days: 3,000. So, I set myself a challenge; to make a drawing or painting every day for the next 3,000 days.

The 3000 days... and counting... scroll began as a personal protest against climate change, and it has now assumed a significance for people greater than I could have ever imagined. Starting on Earth Day (26 March) in 2022 with a commitment to continue until Earth Day in 2030, every day I am drawing and painting a species directly onto my Scrolls to “tell a story with a lasting visual impact”. For the medium’s powerful classical references, I chose 10' long scrolls to highlight the issues surrounding the climate crisis and the related loss of biodiversity. Through viewings and presentations I am seeking to engage as many people as possible to join me in doing everything in their power to halt the damage and begin healing ecosystems.

Every day I am looking around, often guided by others, for a new plant to draw.

One plant a day is drawn directly onto the paper – no preliminary pencil sketches are done. Each plant is numbered, dated and described with its botanical and common names, and each has a small story attached to it. This information [ie place-based stories] is recorded in an accompanying book, journal I keep. The nature of the scroll means that I cannot plan the placement of each plant. I do one drawing after the other using a fine point black pen, holding archival ink. The color is watercolor, which is painted over the pen. 

By the time I launched the tour I will have added 925 images, which is 925 days. This is close to 1/3 of the way through the project. The project will not be completed until 2030 which is when the UN IPCC Report of 2021 said that by that time we need to have global temperature increases below 2.7 degrees F. I don't think the will is sufficient yet, on the part of government or business to help people collectively to achieve that goal.

Where will you show your Scrolls?

On this trip, the scrolls are being shown in Melbourne (Australia), NY, Pittsburgh and Boston (USA), London, Lyon and Paris (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Singapore. Strategically timed, my Scrolls presentations in the US, UK, France, the Netherlands and Singapore are after Climate Week NYC and  in the lead up to, COP16 and  the UN COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan (yes, why are global climate negotiations again being hosted in a petro-state?).

Australia is leading the world in mammal species extinctions. The Australian Climate Accountability Project’s recently released findings reveal that “Australia is the [world’s] second-largest climate polluter when calculated by total carbon emissions [‘total lifecycle’] from its massive fossil fuel exports – beaten only by Russia, but ahead of every OPEC country and the United States”. In response, Sharon’s presentations reference the community-led City of Yarra Climate Emergency Plan 2024-2030 to show what is possible when people unite around First Nations leaders’ care for country protocols.

You will continue drawing everyday until 2030 and showing your Scrolls around the world, what keeps you excited and motivated?

Learning about the history and people's uses of plants is quite fascinating. Sadly, much of our knowledge about how to identify and use plants is rapidly disappearing, primarily because people live in cities, don't have access to gardens and buy their food from as supermarket. 

Also like learning about the important relationship between plants and insects. One cannot exist without the other. 

For me this is a voyage of discovery and I love every moment of it, despite the somewhat grim underlying message.

For those who can’t view your Scrolls in person, where can viewers find it online?

A stunning, active, archival artwork of extraordinary beauty, my Scrolls are deeply moving and inspiring. They invite viewers to connect with how they feel about what is at stake from the Climate Emergency and the betrayal by the fossil fuel energy companies (and their financial and political allies) largely responsible for it. They are a powerful, timely call to action to preserve and protect invaluable ecosystems upon which all life on Earth depends.

Beyond taking responsibility for personal pollution, my presentations provide people with meaningful tools and agency to take powerful action to address the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises we face. So seeing my Scrolls in person is an experience on to itself. However, my work can be found online on my  website as detailed in answer 9 below as well as in this video.

Tell us about the organizations you are collaborating with.

I am collaborating with Climarte based in Melbourne, Australia. Climarte works very closely with artists to promote the climate change message to the wider community as well as collaborating with local authorities.

As a community driven, not for profit arts-and advocacy group dedicated to mobilizing communities to take effective action to address the Climate Emergency, CLIMARTE is supporting and presenting my vital work in Australia, USA, UK, France and Singapore.

CLIMARTE Explained

Already my Scrolls and presentations have inspired numerous artists from other parts of the world to create their own locally focussed nature honoring scrolls and projects. I met a fellow Botanical artist at Boscobel and we shall reconnect in Pittsburg at the conference. 

Tell us about your Hudson River Valley Program on October 11, 2024.

As part of the inaugural state wide celebrated Climate Week NY programing my Scrolls were shown as part of Climarte’s video as published in answer 6 at two Hudson River Valley cultural institutions during the 4th week of September. On September 22 my work was shown by Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY; and on September 26 my Scrolls  were shown at Putnam History Museum at Cold Spring, NY. Two weeks after these showings, I traveled from Australia to the US to visit the Hudson River Valley on October 11 in person. On the mighty Hudson River I was privileged to draw at the magnificent heritage Boscobel Gardens, and to show and talk about the Scrolls and meet with staff at the Putnam History Museum Cold Spring, NY; The Howland Cultural Centre Beacon, NY and the Antipodean Book Maps and Prints Shop in Garrison, NY.

Anything else you would like to add.

We have beneath our feet a most precious resource which we need to respect and care for... our earth, and everything in it. Plants, animals, birds, insects and fungi don't need us for their survival, but we need them if we are to survive.

How can people get in touch with you?

People can get in touch with me via my website: www.sharonfieldartist.com.au, or my IG: 3000 days and counting, or at IG: sharon_field_artist