Amazing artist, army helicopter pilot, philanthropist, with Kiwi connections helping elephants
London - A Cambridge University vet student, zoology graduate, artist, army commander, helicopter pilot, philanthropist and environmental artist is staging a major art exhibition in the middle of London to raise money to protect elephants.
Hannah Shergold started her art career three years ago but has already raised more than £150,000. In 2018, she travelled to Sydney for the Invictus Games and raised over £50,000 for the UK team.
Two years ago, she dedicated her London exhibition to the Born Free Foundation, raising more than £65,000. Last year she began her partnership with Prince William’s conservation charity Tusk.
Despite the global pandemic forcing the cancellation of her London preview last year, Hannah donated £40,000, through sales of the 2020 Tusk Collection.
Shergold’s veterinary studies have instilled a deep understanding of animal anatomy and the mechanics of movement and weight transfer.
Spending three years as a bronze sculptor she applied this knowledge in three dimensions, securing large scale commissions for private clients and military units.
In 2009, she joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and commissioned into the Army Air Corps. Following a tour of Afghanistan with the infantry, she qualified as a Lynx helicopter pilot and has served all over the world.
She was deployed to Kenya in 2015 to conduct medical evacuation duties. She paints and coordinates her philanthropic activities from her studio in Cheltenham.
“I have contacts in New Zealand. I feel proud my art contributes so much to African animal conservation.”
Her latest work will be showcased on London’s Pall Mall next month.
She says her painting was inspired by wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan and his work with the Born Free Foundation.
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.