Andrea Kingsley

Andrea has always had a passion for nature, animals and art but it was hard for her to decide to focus on art or biology. A trip to the Hudson Bay Lowlands surveying birds while still in high school solidified her resolve to understand the things that she loves to paint. She attended Trent University and completed her Honours B.Sc. in biology, spending the release program, researching the effects of acid rain on Black-capped Chickadees, undertaking breeding bird surveys for Environment Canada, and working as a park naturalist at Algonquin Provincial Park. After completing her B.Sc., Andrea completed her Master's degree researching the effects of logging on Algonquin Park's forest birds. Andrea believes that it is critical to understand the things one paints or draws, and has always had the goal of merging the disciplines of science and art. Throughout her academic career, she continued to keep up with her art and first illustrated a book about fish conservation while still in university [Berrill M., 1997 The plundered seas - can the world's fish be saved? Greystone Books].

After university, she was involved in research for universities and government agencies in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Throughout this time, Andrea was busy creating commissioned paintings for individuals, and numerous illustrations for several publications and magazines, including Wildflower magazine, Ontario Birds, Birders Journal, and Ontario Insects, among others. She became the staff artist for Birders Journal and was frequently called upon to create both colour and ink illustrations for the magazine on short notice. In addition to publications, her art has also been used in museum displays, on greeting cards, T-shirts, information packages and as logos for programs and events for groups such as Bird Studies Canada.



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