During the Covid lockdown in 2020, while other people were adopting dogs or learning to make sourdough bread, Rachel Harris bought a big pack of coloured pencils. ‘I was always an arty kid at school,’ she said. ‘But at uni I had to choose between art and science, and science won.’
Feathered focus draws attention to wildlife conservation
Rachel did her PhD on chemical ecology in echidnas, i.e. how they use their sense of smell to communicate, find mates and navigate the world. After a post-doctorate in the United States working with ring-tailed lemurs, she came back to Australia and took a job in policy with the Federal government.
By the time Covid hit our shores, she hadn’t drawn in fifteen years. ‘I just didn’t have time,’ she said.
She started drawing cartoons from YouTube tutorials, then switched to birds because she liked the colours. When she posted her work on social media, she received commission requests, and she’s been drawing ever since.
‘I have a long-standing fascination with animals and nature,’ she said, ‘and my drawings try to capture a moment in time, showing the animal’s behaviour, habitat and character.’
Coloured pencils are a slow medium to work with, and it can take Rachel, who also has a full-time job, weeks to finish a single drawing. She works from photos, with permission from photographers, and her science background means that accuracy is important to her. ‘If I’m drawing a bird, have I got the right number of feathers on the wing? If I get it wrong, bird people will notice.’
At the end of 2024, Rachel and fellow Eastern shore artist Tasha Waller held their first exhibition of realistic coloured pencil drawings of Tasmanian wildlife, at the Salamanca Arts Centre.
‘We wanted to explore the connections between art, science and conservation,’ said Rachel. ‘Tasmania has so many unique species, but they are often taken for granted, or people don’t know about them, or they end up as roadkill. We wanted to raise awareness, to invite people to look closely and connect with the animal.’
‘We had lots of lovely feedback, with visitors to the exhibition telling us about their connection to a particular bird or animal, often from a bushwalk or in their backyards.’
Rachel donates a percentage of all her sales to different conservation organisations, including Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, the Raptor Refuge, and Birdlife Tasmania.
‘All these organisations are dealing with the effects of climate change, how it’s affecting wildlife habitat and wildlife interactions with humans,’ she said. ‘I wanted to do something to support them.’
Rachel is currently working on a wedge-tailed eagle, and has a long list of other birds and animals she would like to draw, including a forty-spotted pardalote and a tawny frogmouth.
Rachel Harris has been chosen by community group Clarence Climate Action as this month’s Climate Champion.
Eastern Shore Sun, April 2025, page 16