Carry Akroyd

Carry Akroyd is a painter-printmaker and occasional illustrator, whose images examine the relationship between humans, landscape and wildlife.

Alongside formal concerns about colour, shape and balance, Carry brings an interest in history, botany and birds to her representations of contemporary agricultural landscapes.

She lives between the Nene Valley and the Fens, both of which provide subject matter.

An appreciation of the unspectacular has given Carry a sympathetic connection to the nineteenth century poet John Clare, a 'ditch visionary', whose writing has been a continuing source of inspiration. Many of Carry's black and white linocuts are illustrations to John Clare poems published by The John Clare Society: "This Happy Spirit" and "The Wood is Sweet".

In contrast, her colour work is reproduced in her own book: 'natures powers & spells, Landscape Change, John Clare and Me'. Many images echo Clare's poetry in observing of how man affects nature, two hundred years ago and now.

Carry was awarded an MA with distinction from the University of Northampton. She is a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists and shows with them in London each year.

Carry's work has been used on several book jackets, and she is the series cover artist for Bloomsbury's British Wildlife Collection and Saraband's 'Encounters with Nature'. She illustrates the Bird of the Month column in The Oldie magazine.

In 2011 she edited 'Wildlife in Printmaking' for Langford Press, in which she brought together work by 22 printmakers whose subject is the natural world.