ABOUT

A Journey Through Nature & Art

Welsh-born ecological-artist and researcher Lucia Isolda Cunningham has dedicated over three decades to exploring the intersections of art, ecology and mark-making. Growing up amidst the historic landscapes of Powis and Chirk Castles in Wales, her deep connection to nature began in her formative years. Lucia's artistic journey includes time spent in upstate New York before returning to the Shropshire - Welsh Marches, UK - where the surrounding ambient ecologies continue to influence and shape her work. A seminal moment in her artistic philosophy came during childhood when she encountered Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) at the MoMA, New York. The raw energy of this work ignited her lifelong pursuit of dynamic and expressive mark-making, nurturing her belief that drawing is not only a human act but universal, found an encountered in all life.

The Artfulness of More-Than-Human Trace

Snail Drawing, Ice, Shrewsbury, 2023

Completed a practice-based PhD: The Artfulness of More-than-Human Trace at Loughborough University's School of Creative Arts, 2025. PhD thesis weblink:

https://doi.org/10.26174/thesis.lboro.30774188

Lucia Cunningham challenges anthropocentric (human-centred) assumptions about art, particularly drawing. She states, with radical simplicity: “The reason we think marks made by more-than-human life look like drawings is because they are drawings,” advancing her claim that “all life draws.” She approaches more-than-human trace - the tracks and trails formed by life - such as slug mucus trails, snail grazing patterns, leafminer larvae mining lines and spider webs as artful acts emerging through ecological processes. Her work reframes drawing as interspecies, relational and ecologically embedded.

By foregrounding more-than-human mark-making as artistic production and by attending closely to these marks, she challenges human-centric ideas of artistic authorship and expands our understanding of art, perception and kinship with more-than-human life. At a time of ecological precarity, rethinking art as something that exceeds the human opens new aesthetic and ethical possibilities. Lucia invites people to slow down, look closely and reconsider what counts as art - not as something defined by human control, intervention or manipulation, but as a practice of all life.

Exhibitions & Artistic Vision

Lucia’s artwork, a reflection of her profound connection to nature, has been exhibited internationally. Drawing at its core, her practice expands into photography. Her bold vision seeks to inspire future generations to understand the deep relationship between mark-making and the ambient ecologies that sustain them. Above all, Lucia dreams of exhibiting at MoMA, New York— continuing the cycle of connection and inspiration that began in her youth.

Research Presentations and Prestigious Forums

Lucia has shared her revolutionary ideas at major art and academic conferences, showcasing the intersection of art and ecology:

2026: CICA (Czong Institute of Contemporary Art) - Drawing Now 2026, South Korea - work selected for exhibition (Oct-Nov), 2026
2026: Superiotritas Award 2026, Milan, Italy – Currently on the long-list awaiting short-list results
2025: Nature, Environment and Conservation Open Art Exhibition, Pensychnant Nature and Conservation Centre, Wales
2022: The Artfulness of More-than-Human Trace - Ecologies of Drawing: A More Than Human World, Drawing Research Network, Loughborough University [Recording accessible at: https://vimeo.com/729236968].
2022: Ecologies of Drawing: In Situ - Online Exhibition, curated by Sara Schneckloth
2021: Accidental Objects in Printmaking Talk - IMPACT 11, Hong Kong International Printmaking Conference
2020: Drawing Encounters with Objects Talk- Research in the Arts, Arts in Research Symposium, Poland University, Lodz
2011: Find Your Talent, Artist in Resident Talk - The British Museum, National Society for Education in Art and Design
2003: Featured on ITV’s, A Brush with Fame, UK
2001: Nominated for the Original Turner Prize for British Landscape Painters, Mall Gallery, London.

Research Groups & Service

2026 - present: Member of ArtEO (Earth Observation) Research and Development Community - A network of peer artists and technical experts
2021-2025 - Member, Drawing Research Group, Loughborough University - Co-organiser, Drawing Research Network: Ecologies of Drawing - International Talks, 2023
2020 -2021 - Executive Committee Member, Material Encounter Research Cluster, Birmingham City University - Co-organiser, Material Encounters Colloquium: Uncertain Knowledge(s), 2021

Publications

Lucia’s scholarly work is an extension of her practice, where theory and art collide:

2024: The Artfulness of More-Than-Human Trace - TRACEY Journal, 17(1) Available online
2021: Asemic Drawing - Brag Issue III: What Matters Now?, Wheatsheaf Print, Cheshire
2021: Between the Leaves - Collaborative artist book, IMPACT 11, Hong Kong International Printmaking, Material Encounters Research Cluster Group, Birmingham City University
2020: Asemic Drawing - Brag Issue II: Anything Human, Wheatsheaf Print, Cheshire
2009: (June) A Brush with Fine Art Fame - Shropshire Magazine, p.61
2007: (May) It's Showtime - Verve, Designs for Living Magazine, p.76
2007: (May) Lunar Gazings - Art of England Magazine, pp.48-49
2006: (Jan/Feb) A Brush with Fame - Art of England Magazine, pp.34-36
2005: (Feb) Love on a Canvas - Shropshire Life Magazine, p.111

A Commitment to Education & Empowerment

For over 30 years, Lucia has cultivated creativity through lecturing, workshops and as an Artist in Residence. Her educational endeavours focus on empowering individuals and communities to explore their artistic potential while fostering ecological consciousness. As a Fine Art Department Head, she championed the importance of the human and more-than-human worlds, inspiring future generations to push the boundaries of what art can accomplish in both human expression and ecological awareness.