In Conversation with Beatrice Forshall

To celebrate the opening of her exhibition; a collection of over 20 hand-coloured engravings of endangered species, flora and fauna, join Beatrice Forshall as she talks about her creative process, the wildlife that inspires her work and her conservation projects. Signed copies of her book 'The Book of Vanishing Species' will be available to purchase.

Beatrice Forshall was born in France; she spent her early years there and in Catalonia. She studied illustration at Falmouth College of Art, specialising in dry-point engraving in the last year of her degree. She has since exhibited regularly throughout the UK. Her work has always drawn upon the natural world, and conservation.

From 2017 to 2019 Beatrice was artist-in-residence with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI), a collaboration between researchers, policymakers and practitioners from the University of Cambridge and leading biodiversity conservation organisations. Her work is part of the permanent collection in CCI’s home, the David Attenborough Building.

To date she has worked with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, BirdLife International and Fauna & Flora International.

Beatrice’s book, The Book of Vanishing Species was published by Bloomsbury in 2022.

Beatrice makes engravings using an intaglio press. The process is long: first drawing, then engraving, printing and colouring by hand. The material on which Beatrice engraves is fragile, so print runs are short, rarely more than twenty-five, and each final image varies slightly in colour and sometimes composition from the rest of the series, making it unique.

A percentage of the sales of Beatrice’s prints goes towards frontline conservation projects.

Also check out other Arts events in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Exhibitions in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Fine Arts events in Newcastle Upon Tyne.