Gary says “I first met Allan Thornton, CBE in 1980
when he was the executive director of Greenpeace, UK and I was silk-screening
their logos on the Greenpeace sweatshirts. He really liked my drawings and in
1984 commissioned me to draw his cat.
“Incidentally,
Allan along with Jennifer Lonsdale and my partner, Dave Currey co-founded EIA
in 1984.
“Anyway,
I got a call from Allan in 1986 asking if I would be interested in creating
some drawings for Greenpeace to use for their merchandising. Following a
meeting with Allan, three Greenpeace campaigners and myself, we narrowed it
down to four subjects: Harp Seals, Bottle-nosed Dolphins, Narwhal and Green
Turtle. I sketched out a few ideas for each species to show them what I was
thinking.
“After
they decided on the four best sketches, I then began the daunting task of drawing
them. They each took about 30 hours to complete. I was especially pleased with
the atmosphere and detail of the Green Turtle. Greenpeace was too, so decided
to publish it as their first ever limited edition print along with their second
choice, the Narwhal. It was completely unknown how they would be received by
the Greenpeace members. The prints were showcased in their autumn catalogue and
after only 6 weeks the 850 Turtle prints had all sold out. I felt both relieved
and ecstatic.
“The
Narwhal followed soon after. The reaction had been so positive, I was asked to
draw African Elephants for their 1988 merchandise catalogue (that one sold out
in 3 weeks). I did a total of nine different limited edition prints with
Greenpeace, seven for them exclusively. The prints raised over £119,000 for
Greenpeace campaigns.”
