Ben Woodhams is an English artist and illustrator currently living and working on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. After beginning a career in museums and art galleries as an exhibition curator and designer, Ben and his family moved to Bornholm in 2008, where he works as an artist, illustrator and educator.

Ben’s practice is founded in direct observation and often features birds, working primarily in watercolour. Studies of living birds are made in the field, while dead birds are taken to the studio. Moments in time, and the relationship between the process of observation and depiction, are the engines that drive Ben’s work – the tension between the ‘need’ to capture the moment or the vision, and the desire to let the medium speak its own language.

Recently Ben has been studying changes in the landscape through space and time. In 2018 he walked around the island of Bornholm every Friday, in 52 stages – the work produced is the KYST Project. In 2021 Ben walked around Christiansø, for the ERTHOLMENE project, and in 2023 Ben will walk inside Bornholm for the LAND project.

In 2015 Ben was invited to become an Artist Member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA). The SWLA is a registered charity that seeks to generate appreciation and delight in the natural world through all forms of fine art inspired by the world’s wildlife, and represents some of the world’s most respected and well-known wildlife artists. The focus of the Society’s year is the annual exhibition ‘The Natural Eye’ at the Mall Galleries, London.

In 2019, Ben was awarded the Birdwatch Artist of the Year award at the Natural Eye Exhibition and the TV2 Bornholm Culture Prize. In 2021 Ben received the RSPB award.

A more detailed CV, with a list of exhibitions, is available here.

Ben’s works are organised into different sections within the Gallery menu. Go to Purchase original art to find out how to purchase artworks. You can contact Ben here.