Annick Ansselin

Background

I am a retired neuroscientist, with a passion for fine detail, a result of many years of research using a variety of microscopes, including electron microscopes. These days, the passion for detail is channeled into drawings, watercolours and etchings of plants and animals found in Australia, with a special interest in the endemic species of Tasmania.

My interest in drawing and watercolours started as a child, and I have continued to draw, and paint ever since. In 1991, I undertook a year of part-time study in watercolour, with the Australian artist Owen Thompson at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney. I love the combination of pen and ink with colour, and gravitated to printmaking, studying with printmaker Seraphina Martin, at the School of Fine Arts (University of Sydney), followed with 2 years at the Laurel Street Art Centre, Willoughby, mentored by the artist Mieke Cohen. Following my retirement from Academia and moving to Kettering in 2001, I have been able to devote more time to my artistic interests. I obtained the Diploma of Botanical Illustrations (long distance) from the Society of Botanical Art (UK) in 2015. I have taken part in numerous small group exhibitions in Southern Tasmania, regularly exhibit at a number of local exhibitions, and have been an invited artist at Art at the Point (Dennes Pt) exhibitions. Much of my more recent works has been commission based.

In 2008 I was commissioned by the Understorey Network to produce a series of 12 detailed black and white drawings of native plants and endangered invertebrates typically found in the central North and North East regions of Tasmania. These drawings were printed on the front cover of each region's Plant Species Information List. A set of 6 drawings from this body of work, travelled throughout Tasmania from March 2009 to March 2010, as part of the Tasmanian Regional Arts travelling exhibition.

In 2010 I participated in the Over the Edge Exhibition, a collaboration between Hunter Island Press and the CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research. I was partnered with Prue Bonham from the Marine division and produced a series of dry point etchings entitled Plankton Series. One of the prints, Hairy Friends, Bacteriastrum sp. was chosen for the front cover of the catalogue.

In 2011 I was part of the Periodic Table project for the International Year of Chemistry, doing etchings for three elements, Chlorine (Cl), Gallium (Ga), and Technictium (Tc). A collaboration between chemists and Tasmanian printmakers to produce an artistic impression of the IUPAC approved 2010 Periodic Table. The result is displayed on the Chemistry Resource page of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute website (www.raci.org.au/periodic-table-on-show). The assembled table toured Australia and New Zealand, and a permanent display has been installed at the Royal Australian Chemical Institute both in Melbourne and in New Zealand.. A poster of the periodic table has been distributed to schools throughout Australia.

I have produced limited editions of etchings (20) depicting Tasmanian native plants and animals, as well as botanical art cards made from my original botanical watercolours. These days, I concentrate on botanical watercolours and graphite drawings.

My work can be found in private collections in Australia and overseas as well as Lovett Gallery (Cygnet, TAS). My botanical cards are also available through Fullers Book store, Hobart (TAS) and Native Plants of Tasmanian Nursery, Ridgeway (TAS).

I am a member of The Botanical Art Society of Australia (BASA) and The Huon Art Exhibitions Group (HAEG), as well as Botaniko, a small group of like-minded botanical artists who meet regularly to paint, bounce ideas around, and generally enjoy working together, usually on projects of historical botanical significance, which result in yearly exhibitions.