Biographical

Peter Marsack was born in 1955 in Beirut, Lebanon, where his parents were working for the United Nations. Over the next 10 years his family moved on to Yemen, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, a lifestyle that encouraged an interest in natural history and travel. Peter has been fascinated by nature and art for as long as he can remember, picking up exotic temporary pets ranging from snakes to bats and praying mantids to Atlas moths. He went to School and University in the UK, eventually training as a zoologist. After moving to Western Australia in 1980 he worked for the Department of Agriculture, involved in researching a range of species from fruitflies to dingoes and feral pigs.

In 1990 he resigned to follow his interests in wildlife art and illustration. He completed a Graduate Diploma in Plant and Wildlife Illustration at Newcastle University, where he was awarded the National Parks and Wildlife Margaret Senior Scholarship in 1991. Since 1992 he has worked as a freelance artist, and is currently based in Canberra.

Prizes, Publications etc:

In 2003, Peter won Third Prize in the Watercolour category of the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize for his painting Glossy Black-Cockatoos.

Peter is one of 30 contemporary wildlife artists featured in "Feather and Brush" (Penny Olsen, CSIRO Publishing, 2001), a history of bird art and artists in Australia. His work has received awards from the Australian Entomological Society and from Birds Australia (Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union). He illustrated "Fairy-wrens and Grasswrens" (Ian Rowley and Eleanor Russell, Oxford University Press 1997) and has painted some 60 plates for three volumes of the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB: Birds Australia and Oxford University Press). He has produced a wide range of other work for publication, including calendars, posters, brochures, logos and signage.

Artwork:

Peter's artwork has been included in a variety of exhibitions, including annual shows of the Wildlife Art Society of Australia, the Wildlife and Botanical Artists Group, ACT, and Australian National Capital Artists. His artwork was used to promote the major fund-raising exhibition "Art for Birds' Sake" in Sydney in 2001. He has painted birds more than any other subjects, mainly working in watercolour and gouache to produce illustrations for identification. This work demands detail and scientific accuracy but does leave room to show the character ("jizz") of the living bird. He also enjoys looser styles of painting and other media and enjoys showing the animal as part of its environment, something he has been able to do in many private commissions. The pictures shown here reflect some of the range of his work.

Contact

Peter Marsack
7 Dakin Place
Hackett ACT 2602
Phone (02) 6257 0635
Web Site www.marsack.com.au
Email peter@marsack.com.au