In March 2026, we launched an open competition inviting artists and illustrators to help us shape a distinctive visual identity rooted in the living systems of the Tay Bioregion. The response was both moving and humbling. Artists from across Tayside and beyond submitted work of genuine depth and care, and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to engage so thoughtfully with this brief.
After careful deliberation, we are thrilled to announce our winner. Dundee-based artist and game developer, Claire Morwood – https://www.shimmerwitch.space
After a remarkable open call, we are delighted to announce that Claire Morwood has been selected as the winning artist and will be working with us to develop a visual language for the Tay Bioregion.
Directors, June 2026
Why Claire’s work resonated
Claire brings a rare combination of influences to this brief: a formal academic background in geology and palaeontology, a deep practice in hand-made and mixed-media art, and a genuine commitment to environmental and community themes through projects like Transition Dundee’s Gleaning Network and Crafting Digital’s Digital Change for Climate Justice project, along with developing many nature inspired digital projects such as ‘Little Drip’ a weather app and a nature based game called ‘Habitats in Time and Zines’.
Her submission did not approach the Bioregion just as a backdrop or a setting. It approached it as a system, one that can be read in layers, from the deep geological history that shapes soil and topography, through to the mycelium networks and moss communities visible at millimetre scale on a walk through the Den O’ Alyth.
“I see the Tay Bioregion as the intersection of many overlapping ecosystems and communities, congregating around the central nourishing source of the river Tay.” Claire Morwood
Her typographic experiments wove mossy and mycelium forms directly into letterforms. Her colour palette, muted earthy yellows, greens and purples was drawn from geological maps of Tayside, giving the work a grounded specificity that felt entirely of this place. Her use of fractal shapes and negative space to dissolve man-made borders captured something at the heart of what Bioregioning Tayside is trying to express.
What the commission involves
Claire will now work with us to develop the visual language and digital assets that will support our public storytelling and engagement. This includes work that can seed the visual identities of the proposed new governance, collaboration and financing infrastructure for the Bioregion.
She has described a vision for the work that excites us: expanding the collage work using textures photographed specifically in the Bioregion, varying across seasons or highlighting particular areas of the catchment, and bringing in more imagery from cultural contexts, the human-made materials and structures woven into this landscape alongside the ecological ones.
What we were looking for
- Bioregional understanding: Place as a living, interconnected system.
- Originality: Distinct from generic environmental aesthetics
- Visual coherence: A clear relationship between all elements
- Craft & sensitivity: Even at sketch and exploratory level
- Expandability: Capacity to grow into a full visual system
Claire’s submission met all of these criteria. Her work demonstrated not just a strong visual instinct but a genuine intellectual and ecological curiosity about what the Tay Bioregion is and could be.
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We extend our warmest thanks to all who submitted. The quality and breadth of responses reminded us of the depth of creative talent connected to this bioregion, and we are determined to find more ways to work with and support that community as Bioregioning Tayside grows. Follow our work at bioregioningtayside.scot to see Claire’s visual language take shape. |
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