Journey back to the Jurassic period for Perth audience

Illustrator Jon Hoad to speak about dinosaurs at Curious Minds event in AK Bell Library

Illustrator Jon Hoad may live in 21st-Century Perth but his imagination is firmly in the Jurassic period.

Tucked away in a tiny office off a narrow vennel in the heart of Perth, surrounded by ferns, the artist labours over illustrations of strange creatures in an unfamiliar landscape.

He works with universities, museums and publishers to bring long-lost dinosaurs to life.

Mr Hoad doesn’t use modern computer animation techniques; his scenes are painstakingly reproduced by hand, in acrylic paints, bringing an organic, natural quality to his work.

Recently, he was part of the team assembled by Steve Brusatte, the well-known Edinburgh palaeontologist, to investigate and record dinosaur footprints and fossils on Skye.

Hundreds of footprints and handprints made by plant-eating sauropods around 170 million years ago were discovered, helping fill an important gap in the evolution of the huge, long-necked animals, which were the biggest of the dinosaurs.

Now a Perth audience will have an opportunity to hear Mr Hoad talk about his work in a Curious Minds lecture in the AK Bell Library on Friday, at 7.30pm.

Curious Minds is a collaborative project between Perthshire Society of Natural Science, which celebrated its 150th anniversary last year, and Culture Perth and Kinross.

“We have been running the Curious Minds lecture series for two years now, covering a wide range of topics from mud houses in Errol through black holes to the Higgs Boson,” said Tom Ryan, president of Perthshire Society of Natural Science.

“There is tremendous interest in Perth for high-quality, science-based talks.

“We are really looking forward to Jon’s presentation. Not only because of the subject matter – everybody loves dinosaurs – but also because Jon is a modest guy from Perth whose work is seen in leading textbooks and museums all over the world.”

Tickets for the talk are available from e-Computers on Kinnoull Street, Perth, and from Eventbrite on the Perthshire Society of Natural Science website.

There is tremendous interest in Perth for high-quality, sciencebased talks. TOM RYAN, PRESIDENT OF PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Illustrator Jon Hoad works with universities, museums and publishers to bring dinosaurs to life.