Above: 'Glowing with Life' 33 x 40 inches Acrylic on board. 2001



Above: 'Africa Calling' 33 x 40 inches Acrylic on board. 2005

Above: "Roaming around the Rainforest" the official print for the launch of Eden.

Above: "Rice and Hope" painted for Eden and Save the Children live in the biomes to launch 'Beat Poverty'. This painting raised enough money to buy 500 breeding pairs of goats and sheep for Africa.

Above: John at work during the construction of Eden

John Dyer on his first experiences at Eden

In 1989/90 I was lucky enough to win a travelling bursary to the Amazon Rainforest courtesy of Thames Television. I spent three weeks photographing the Rainforest for an exhibition in London.

The experience made me change the way I was living and working. The first change that I made was to focus on painting rather than photography. The colours of the wooden buildings in the Amazonian towns and villages, the vibrant greens of the foliage and the tea coloured Amazon river gave me a desire to paint and to explore colour.

The second change was a sudden desire to return to Cornwall, the place that I had grown up in. When I returned to Cornwall after my experience of the Amazon I noticed what I had taken for granted for years. The plants growing in Cornwall, palms on the sea front, tree ferns and cactus mixed together in gardens, places like Trebah Gardens and The Lost Gardens of Heligan were being rediscovered. Taking a boat up Frenchman's Creek was a deja vu experience for me. Large fallen trees half submerged in the water, foliage tumbling down steep slopes, birds echoing in the undergrowth, this was as Amazonian as it got for me and I realised that Cornwall had it all.

I moved back to Falmouth and began to paint, and indulge in colour and shape. My Cornwall was tropical. Ten years on and the Millennium has arrived, together with the most exciting Millennium project in the country; The Eden Project.

Eden presented a chance for me to return to the Rainforest, this time with my paints instead of my camera. In November 2000 Sue Hill, the art director at The Eden Project offered me a painting residency, and began by showing me around Watering Lane Nursery. 20,000 plants are impressive, especially when they are being nurtured in a state of the art glasshouse. As the door to the glasshouse slid open it was like stepping off the plane in Santarem, Brazil. Rows and rows of specimen plants from West Africa, Amazonia and Oceania stood waiting to be inspected. Papaya trees covered in fruit, Balsa trees almost getting bigger before my eyes,Cheese plants everywhere, Palms, Oranges, Lemons, Cacti, Sugar Cane and plants of all shapes and sizes.

The atmosphere at Watering Lane is very calm, the smell of the plants in flower and the dampness of the earth floor creates a soothing experience. A small team of people continually tend the plants, moving them around the glass houses, checking for pests, watering, sweeping and during my time at Watering Lane there was a continuous stream of plants being loaded onto vans to be taken to Eden.

Each time I return there are new wonders to see as the plants change. Everybody that I have met during my time at Watering Lane has their own personal favourite plant of the moment, 'have you seen the...., oh you really must have a look at...' and off they would dash with me in hot pursuit to see another wonder from Eden.

My first visit to the Biomes at Eden was during December 2000. Having completed the necessary health and safety induction I put on my hard hat and was taken from the atrocious winter weather and arrived in the steamy tropical atmosphere of West Africa, at the very top of the Humid Tropics Biome. I had arrived at Eden. I looked down through the Biome towards an oasis of palm trees planted next to a lagoon surrounded by earth moving equipment and tiny people. The whole scene resembled a gigantic set from a James Bond film; teams of people busily working in fluorescent jackets and colour coded hard hats, electric buggies ferrying plants and people through the Biome. But this was something quite different from Bond, this was real. This was amazing.

During January and February 2001 I regularly painted in the Biomes at Eden. The experience always had a filmic feel to it to; driven down into the pit in the back of a van, hard hat and jacket with 'Eden Project' emblazoned on them ready for action. The entrance to the Humid Tropics Biome for me was through vast pneumatic doors that concertina and seal shut after you like an airlock on a spaceship. If we ever colonise the moon then look no further than Eden for a glimpse of that future. Easel, paints and board safely loaded into an electric buggy I would be driven slowly up through the quarry from continent to continent, past impossible feats of daring as plants were being pushed and planted on almost vertical rock faces, and then I would be left in a quiet area to watch all of the activity during the day.

The myriad of leaf shapes, twisted stems, prehistoric thorns and jewel like tropical flowers surrounded by busy people pushing wheel barrows, moving soil, and carrying enormous plants has provided a truly exciting subject for me. As I painted I was gently steamed, and if the sun came out and started to track across the pit I start to boil. I was considerably over dressed on my first painting trip to Eden !

The Eden Project is a showcase for nature and exists not only to entertain but more importantly to educate and remind us to respect the natural world and the plant life in it. I hope that my paintings, in some way, will reinforce Eden's message of how marvellous nature is and help to create a sense that this must be conserved for us all. I am an optimist and try to focus this in my work.

I have found The Eden Project to be a very positive experience and I hope this is reflected in my paintings. To be associated with The Eden Project and to have been allowed to paint during the birth of Eden has been a real privilege for me and I am looking forward to watching Eden grow and establish itself as a true wonder of the world.

John Dyer 2001

John Dyer looks back on the last seven years working with Eden.

A vision of a green future focused on the extraordinary contribution that plants make to our planet, combined with the relationships that we have with those plants. For an artist who had travelled as far as the Amazon Rainforest to study plants this was a must see project - The Eden Project.

“My painting residency started at Eden back in the year 2000. I had recently returned from a painting trip to Provence recording the grape harvest and Sue Hill the art director of the Eden project took me under her wing as Eden’s painter in residence.

Sue showed me the plants before they were planted in the biomes and as the door to the glasshouse slid open it was like stepping off the plane in Santarem, Brazil. Rows and rows of specimen plants from West Africa, Amazonia and Oceania stood waiting to be inspected. Papaya trees covered in fruit, Balsa trees almost getting bigger before my eyes,Cheese plants everywhere, Palms, Oranges, Lemons, Cacti, Sugar Cane and leaves of all shapes and sizes. It was fantasic !

I have been working alongside Eden ever since and have had a remarkable journey with them. People often ask how the relationship works - am I really ‘resident’ on site and can I paint subjects that I want or do I have to follow Eden’s instructions?

The answer to these questions and the reason that I am still working with Eden is that the relationship is founded on simplicity, trust and a shared vision for the environment. I am not on site at Eden every day - or even every month. I paint exactly what I want and when I wish to. If Eden wish to exhibit or publish the resulting work then that is fantastic and it means I remain a true artist following my own heart and interests which works for us both.

So - what have I been up to over the past seven years with Eden? Lots!

This is the chronology of my Eden story so far.
2000
In November 200 I was made The Eden Project's Painter in Residence. and started my residency at Wateringlane nursery and also at the construction site of the Biomes.

2001
In 2001 Eden purchase one of my key paintings "Garden of Eden" and launch the John Dyer/Eden Project range of calendar, diary, posters, cards and a huge retail display. They also use one of my paintings as their official Eden Print to launch the project. This had a major impact on my work and increased the number of people who knew about my work dramatically.

2002
In 2002 Eden commissioned an entire exhibition of mediterranean crop paintings of Italy for World Food Week and also commissioned 'Scavel and Gow' an acclaimed writers group in Cornwall to write a new set of stories about the works. The Exhibition was held at Eden and the stories were performed live to an audience with the paintings. The combination was magical.

2003
In 2003 I chose to extend my work to Alan Titchmarsh and his famous garden. I considered Alan a key player in environmentalism and his organic approach to gardening made him a very interesting subject. As a result of painting the BBC Gardeners’ World garden Alan and I hosted an evening of live talk and paintings at Eden. Over 400 people paid to attend and it was the fastest selling Eden event to date.

I built on this event by then spending a week with Kim Wilde in her garden painting. Eden featured this work to raise awarness to involve children in growing food. Kim is an active supporter of getting children involved with plants and I painted her children actively engaged in planting in her garden.

Also in 2003 Sue Hill asked me to start the 'Crops Project' looking at the worlds most important staple foods and the ethnobotanical relationships surrounding them.

As part of this project Bioversity International, one of Eden's scientific partners,  commissioned me to paint in Costa Rica to highlight small holder banana and chocolate farming and also home gardens.

These paintings and the story behind them became the subject for a special event at Eden in their new foundation building.

Save the Children asked me to help them launch their  'Beat Poverty' campaign which I did by painting rice in the Humid Tropics Biome. Everybody who signed up got painted in - and we sold a set of prints raising over £6000 for the cause.

2004
Eden invent their "Bulb Mania!" season and commission a new painting to celebrate this and also publish a set of prints from it.

The Painted Plants web site is launched using my paintings with text from Eden and it was all hosted on Alan Titchmarsh's web site. The site has recently moved but is still available to view from The John Dyer Gallery.

The International Rice Research Institute ask me to paint the rice harvest in the Philippines for the United Nations International Year of Rice
These paintings form the exhibition "Rice is Life" which was exhibited at Eden from September to Christmas 2004. The paintings were also published as a calendar in the Philippines.

2005
In 2005 Eden asked me to record one of their most exciting events to date. Live8. My mission was to paint a new iconic painting to capture the essence of Africa Calling at Eden.

Eden also commission a new painting for their skating season 'A Time of Gifts' and again publish a new set of prints.

2006
Eden have many working partners all over the world and the newest of these in 2006 was the wine company Banrock Station. Eden decided that it would be a great idea to get me to paint the wetlands of Australia with Banrock Station, I simply had to agree !

The resulting paintings formed the hub of a one night exhibition and event with over 600 people attending to hear a live talk from myself and manager of Banrock Station Tony Sharley.

Also in 2006 I was commissioned to paint the cover of Carol Drinkwater’s new book ‘The Olive Route’ The publishers had been inspired by my Eden work in the mediterranean.

2007
My most recent project with Eden has been with assisting with a bid to hopefully raise over 1 million pounds for African Artists. Falmouth Art gallery and The Eden Project are working closely on this and my paintings have been used to illustrate the power of the combination of art with Eden. I spent the day a few weeks ago with the chief executive of Eden, Tim Smit, the curator of Falmouth Art Gallery, Brian Stewart and a party of people from London giving a tour of Eden and explaining the potential for performance, sculpture and interpretational art within the project. I will keep my fingers crossed.

And in the future..
I have been invited to be the resident artist for Centro Internacional de la Papa in Peru for the International Year of Potato, this will be an amazing project.

I am working with Eden to arrange an Eden Friends tour and exhibition in Italy at Hanbury Gardens to view an exhibition I have planned for next easter

I have a trip to Borneo planned working with the Global Canoby Programme to paint the rainforest canopy and I have also been invited to travel to the Congo in Africa to paint Gorillas.

And last but not least I hope that very soon there will finally be the new Dry Topics Biome at Eden to complete the major climatic zones of the world and to introduce me to a whole new world of plants and landscapes to paint.