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Peter Schouten was born in Sydney, Australia. From a very early age he developed a passion for all things feathered, furred and scaled from past to present  which led to a budding career in palaeontology. His first artistic reconstructions in this field, when presented to the Australian Museum, were subsequently published by them as the book ‘Prehistoric Animals of Australia’. The success of this book led to employment as a technical illustrator within the school of zoology at the University of New South Wales. After several years he left this post to commence his career as a freelance wildlife artist – a career which to date has encompassed many books and  exhibitions. One of his most recent commissions, the so-called Hobbit, received significant attention when it featured on the front page of most newspapers around the globe in October, 2004. His commitment to his craft continues unabated, and he particularly delights in painting creatures that either cannot or have not been photographed, due to extinction or rarity. It is also his aim to draw attention to the unfortunate plight of many of these creatures and to emphasise the need for urgent conservation. This was essentially the premise of his recent books ‘A Gap in Nature’ and ‘Astonishing Animals’, which for many provided the first, startling images of these wonderful animals, either lost or rare. Continuing in this vein, he has recently completed work on a new collection which challenges all of our preconceived images of those truly colossal animals of the past – the dinosaurs. This book, entitled 'Feathered Dinosaurs - The Origin of Birds'  was published in May, 2008, by CSIRO Publishing. It was published in North America by Oxford University Press (America) in September, 2008, and is still currently in print. This is to be followed in the late 2011 by the publication of 'Gliding Mammals' (S. Jackson & P. Schouten), which will be a beautifully illustrated and comprehensive monograph of all  gliding mammals. Another forthcoming publication (due 2012) to which Peter has contributed extensively is 'A Comparison of the Heritage Values of Important Australian Fossil Sites' - an Australian Government publication under the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Currently in production is the provisionally titled 'Megafauna' -  a collaboration with Dr. Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History. This book will investigate the movement of modern humans out of Africa and trace the impact these migrations had upon the world's megafauna. It is intended that this volume be a companion piece and prequel to the the popular 'A Gap In Nature'. Also under production is 'The Antipodean Ark - A Prehistory of Australasia'. This book will be co-authored with contributions from leading palaeontologists in Australia. It will revisit some familiar ground already discussed in Peter's first two books - 'Prehistoric Animals of Australia' and 'The Antipodean Ark' - however, this book will feature all new full colour illustrations, and the most current information. Peter Schouten is a self taught and trained artist. His preferred media are watercolour, gouache and acrylics on either canvas or paper. MAJOR EXHIBITIONS 1984       Wildlife Society of Australasia Annual Exhibition. 1989         Faber-Castell Annual Drawing Exhibition. 1991         Australian Wildlife Artists Exhibition - Australian Consulate, Washington D.C,                   with Bill Cooper, Ray Harris-Ching and Rod Scott. 1993         W.I.R.E.S.  Wildlife Art Exhibition. 1994         W.I.R.E.S.  Wildlife Art Exhibition. 1995         W.I.R.E.S.  Wildlife Art Exhibition. 1996         Fine Art Society Gallery, New Bond St.,London. .                      A solo exhibition featuring tree kangaroos. 1997        Christies (U.K.) - Annual Wildlife Art Auction. 1999        Levin Gallery, Naturalis Museum Leiden, Netherlands, A permanent exhibition of twenty paintings. 1999        Christies (U.K.) – Annual Wildlife Art Auction. 2001        Museum of South Australia, Adelaide. ‘A Gap In Nature’ exhibition. Solo exhibition featuring 103 paintings. 2002       Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. ‘A Gap In Nature’ Solo exhibition featuring 103 paintings. 2005      Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. ‘Astonishing Animals’ Exhibition Solo exhibition featuring 80 paintings. 2007       'Animal Ornata ' Exhibition. 30 paintings highlighting the adornment and ornamentation of obscure wildlife, held to                commemorate the opening  of the new wing of the Manning Valley Regional Art Gallery.

AWARDS 1983    Whitley Awards for books on Australian animals or history of   Australian zoology – highly commended. 1984        Wildlife Society of Australia – annual prize for drawing. 1989       Faber Castell Drawing Competition – highly commended. 1997       Whitley Awards – Gold Medal for most outstanding book of the year : ‘Tree Kangaroos, A                 Curious Natural History’. 1997       Colin Roderick Literary Award – prize for most outstanding book on an Australian subject. 2002      Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards – Science Writing, ‘A Gap In  Nature’, - highly commended. 2005      Victorian Premier's Literary Awards - Science Writing, 'Astonishing Animals’ – First Prize

MAJOR PUBLICATIONS PREHISTORIC ANIMALS OF AUSTRALIA, ed. S. Quirk and Mike Archer, illustrations by Peter Schouten. Australian Museum : Sydney 1983. Currently out of print. THE ANTIPODEAN ARK : CREATURES FROM PREHISTORIC AUSTRALIA, ed. S. Hand and Mike Archer, illustrations by Peter Schouten. Angus And Robertson : Sydney 1987. Currently out of print. POSSUMS OF THE WORLD : A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHALANGEROIDEA, Tim Flannery, illustrations by Peter Schouten. Geo Productions : Sydney, 1995. Currently out of print. TREE KANGAROOS - A CURIOUS NATURAL HISTORY, Tim Flannery, R. Martin, Alex Szalay, illustrations by Peter Schouten. Reed Books Australia : Melbourne 1996. Limited edition monograph, currently out of print. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ASIAN FOOD, Charmaine Solomon, illustrations by Peter Schouten. William Heinemann Australia/Reed Books : Sydney, 1996. Currently in reprint. A GAP IN NATURE : DISCOVERING THE WORLD’S EXTINCT ANIMALS, Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten, illustrations by Peter Schouten. Text Publishing Company : Melbourne, 2001. Published in North America by Atlantic Monthly Press : New York, 2001. Published in United Kingdom by William Heinemann : London, 2002. Published in the Netherlands (Een Gat In de Natuur) by Atlas : Netherlands, 2001. Published in Asia, Chinese language edition, by Species Publishing Co. Ltd. : Taiwan, 2002. ASTONISHING ANIMALS, Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten, illustrations by Peter Schouten. Text Publishing : Melbourne, 2004. Published in North America by Atlantic Monthly Press : New York, 2004. FEATHERED DINOSAURS -THE ORIGIN OF BIRDS, John Long & Peter Schouten. CSIRO Australia Publishing. May 2008. Published in North America by Oxford University Press (North America), September 2008.