Woodham Academy has appointed a feted artist to join its teaching team. Richard Gore, who was shortlisted for the prestigious BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year in 2012, is set to start at the school in the autumn months.
Richard, a native of the North East, has travelled to some of the most exotic locations on earth, including the Amazon rainforest, the Australian outback, the South Pacific Ocean and the Galapagos Islands.
Along the way he has survived a sting from a deadly Portuguese Man O’ War, outstared an East Brown snake, got his teeth into piranha fishing, swam with sharks and hunted lions alongside the Masai in Kenya (with a camera). Richard has met a number of interesting and eccentric characters during his adventures – a Voodoo witch doctor who told his fortune with bones, a rodeo rider who bragged about breaking all of his, and, (without making any bones about it) a giant Grouper fish going by the name of Elvis – to name but a few.
So, how will this home-grown character, who has painted in soil and wine, find the more mundane environment of an Aycliffe secondary school? He says he is rather looking forward to it, and is, furthermore, hopeful that his own ‘portfolio’ of work and life-experiences will rub off on his students.
Richard uses his obvious talents to combine the two great passions of his life – wildlife and art. People, muses the painter who was brought up on a diet of Johnny Morris and Davis Attenborough, are supposedly the most intelligent of the animals, and in his own understanding this gives us a responsibility to understand and help those with whom we share our little planet: be that the lions and wildebeest of the African savannah or those jackdaws, magpies and sea-birds of the North East of England he so loves to paint.
No one is predisposed to produce great art, says Richard – who has been doodling since he could walk: most of the time, as with all other animals, we make our own world through hard work and practice. This is good news indeed for Woodham Academy’s Wildlife Club (also starting in the autumn), who have been in touch with their newest staff member to see if he would like to put his particular skills to work encouraging and protecting the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood … and to see if he owns his own wellies.
He, of course, does.
