Paul Forrest has been a professional artist for 35 years and lives and works in Newtown, Wellington. He has exhibited widely, has undertaken many artist residencies and his works are held in many private collections both nationally and internationally. Since 2015 the focus of his art practice has been to encourage more awareness of the natural environment. 7 years ago he created The Butterfly Bowling Club to raise awareness of the butterflies in our midst and his large metal butterfly kaleidoscope ‘ Bring back the Natives’ was included in this year’s Sculpture in The Gardens. His previous outdoor visual art projects have focused on promoting native bird sanctuaries in Aotearoa New Zealand working with photographer Derek Tearne and another collaborative environmental project with poet laureate Brian Turner. Additionally, over the last ten years, Paul has been involved in developing a native forest of over 6,000 trees and shrubs on the inner Wellington City ridge Te Ranga a Hiwi – a perfect habitat for the butterflies.