Robert Gillmor
Robert Gillmor MBE (born 1936) is a British ornithologist, artist, illustrator, author and editor. He is a founder member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) and has been its secretary, chairman and president. He has contributed to over 100 books, and in 2001 was a recipient of the RSPB Medal. Early life. Gillmor was educated at Leighton Park School, Reading and the School of Fine Art at Reading University. He was just 16 when his illustrations were first published, in the monthly magazine British Birds. When he was a student in the art department of Reading University , he illustrated his first book, "A Study of Blackbirds". Gillmor taught art and craft at his old school for six years, Leighton Park in Reading before commencing a freelance career as a wildlife artist in 1965. Later career. Gillmor's output has been enormous and in a variety of forms, line drawing watercolour, lino-cuts and silk screen. Since his first book in 1958, his work has since appeared in over 100 books. Moving from Reading to Cley next the Sea in Norfolk in 1998 proved an inspiring influence on his work. He resumed making lino-cuts. He is also  a keen ornithologist, and has served on council for all three of the national organisations, RSPB, British Ornithologists' Union and the British Trust for Ornithology. He designed the first version of the RSPB's Avocet logo. He has illustrated the covers of the annual reports of the Berkshire Ornithological Club (previously Reading Ornithological Club) since 1950. He is a long-standing member (and former president) of the Reading Guild of Artists. SWLA. After founding the Society of Wildlife Artists with Eric Ennion in the early 1960s, Robert served as its secretary and chairman for many years. He was also elected  president in 1984 and served for two five-year periods, he is currently a vice-president of the society. As well as working to promote current work, Robert has done much to promote work of past artists, including Charles Tunnicliffe, (editing three books) and his grandfather, Professor Allen W. Seaby (1867–1953), who instilled in him a love of printmaking. Recent. In 2011, Gillmor completed lino-cuts for four sets of postage stamps for Royal Mail, with a further three sets (of six stamps each) to come in 2012. A retrospective of Gillmor's work was exhibited at Reading Museum from  23 October 2011 to 29 April 2012.