Kristine Khan Limited Edition T-shirt

A Journey Into The Stag Beetle

The overall look of the design has echoes to the arts and culture of Bristol; with reference to Massive Attack (who formed and recorded in Bristol) where their third album Mezzanine famously used an image of a stag beetle plus Andy Council and his creatures made up of Bristol architecture.

The stag beetle is not only the largest terrestrial beetle in the UK but is also one of the rarest. In fact all of the fauna and flora included in the beetle’s silhouette are of endangered species of the UK. They are all suffering from loss of habitat, but some are failing from their unusual reproducing techniques.

The Wave is not only about surfing but it is about creating habitat, being sustainable, taking a breath of fresh air and being educational; all of these I hope are represented in some way within the design.

Cultural References and Inspiration:

·      Andy Council… Bristol based International Urban Artist. Uses Bristol’s iconic architecture to create mythical creatures. Exhibited RWA and is part of the permanent collection in the Bristol City Museum.

·      Massive Attack… Formed in Bristol in 1988, their third album was recorded (@ Christchurch Studios in the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School) in Bristol and featured a Stag beetle on the front.

·      Eco Systems within images.

·      Hand drawn… Style reference to Riz Board shorts. The final piece should be hand-drawn.

·      Surf / Culture / Nature… Taken from the Wave ethos on their website.

·      Tech drawing surfboard… Echo of the shape of the beetle. Reference to the technical side of the project and making boards.

List of endangered species and images on T-shirt

·      Stag Beetle silhouette… Largest beetle found in the UK. Larvae lives 3-5 years, the adults only live between the months of May and Aug. Broadleaf habitats esp. Oak. Parks and gardens where hedgerows, tree stumps and logs are found. Very rare.

·      Black Poplar tree… representing the lungs of the earth. Thought to be Britain’s most endangered native timber tree. Used in the past within buildings, as the wood didn’t catch fire easily. Also very easy to turn as the wood is relatively soft so used for utensils and bowls too. Rarely found and grows in isolation in boggy ground such as wet woodland or flood plains. Both male and female trees flower. The flowers are catkins (male are red and the female are yellow/green), and are pollinated by the wind. This means it is very hard to pollinate a true black poplar plus it is prone to fungal diseases.

·      Hazel dormouse… spending most of its life sleeping by hibernating in the winter or in torpor in the summer. Most of it’s waking hours are spent among the branches of trees looking for food, making long detours rather than coming down to the ground and exposing itself to danger. Found in woodland, hedgerows over 4m high and over 7 years old to bare fruit.

·      (Yellow flower in head of beetle) Marsh Saxifage… Now considered an upland species because its favoured habitats in the lowlands have been destroyed. Suffering from overgrazing and too much drainage. Found in the upland in Wales/Scotland/Ireland

·      (Purple tube flower on leg of beetle) Early Gentian… found mainly on steep, south-facing slopes. Prefers bare ground kept open by sheep or rabbits or trampled by livestock, on thin drought soil. Fond mainly in the south and SW England.

·      Broken-banded Wasp-hoverfly… Found near edges of extensively dry heathland where it is fast flying and elusive. The ecology is virtually unknown, but the larvae will be of the aphid-eating type, probably subterranean. Very rare, decline due to loss of heathland due to arable agriculture and intensive forestry plus accidental fires. Found in Cornwall/Dorset/Surrey/ Hamps.

·      Smooth Snake… Non-venomous snake is very rare in the UK, and is superficially similar to the adder (distinguished by a rounder head and a slimmer body). Found on dry heath and Dwarf Gorse usually south facing, with damp heath at the bottom of the slope. S.E. Dorset/S.W. & E Hampshire/W Surrey.

·      Tansy Beetle… One of Britain’s most endangered insect species only found at one location in the UK – along 45KM of the River Ouse near York. Invasive plants such as the Himalayan Balsam in competition to the Tansy plant, the only plant they eat. Plus they walk between the plants and have a very low detection for it.

·      Southern Damselfly… Threatened by habitat loss of clean rivers and fresh springs, due to changes in grazing, land drainage and water abstraction. They require open vegetation, mixed with slow flowing water in which to lay their eggs. Larvae spend 2 years underwater whereas the adult only lives for 13-16 days.

·      Large Blue Butterfly… In 1979 the species became extinct in Britain but has been successfully reintroduced with new conservation methods. Exhibits a unique parasitic relationship with Myrmica ants. Larva initially feed on the flower heads of Wild Thyme, and then they drop to the ground in the hope of finding a red ant. The ant taps the larva once located, causing the larva to secrete a droplet from a special gland and distort its shape, this tricks the ant into thinking it is an ant grub. The ant then carries the larva into the ant nest to live alongside the grubs but will then become the larva’s prey. The pupa is formed in the ant chamber, on emerging the butterfly crawls through the ant chamber to the surface, where it crawls up nearby vegetation before expanding its wings. The larva can live up to 9 months whereas the butterfly only lasts for a few weeks.

·      Kids surfing… the boards and the body of the children become the butterfly wings

·      Clifton Suspension Bridge… Making this about Bristol plus reference to Andy Council and his art of Bristol.

·      Wave pier… Areal View of the Wave pier and its waveforms.

·      Wave profile x 2… Screenshot of the breaking wave taken from the Wave videos.

·      Duck-divers x 2… Male and female surfers duck-diving under the wave.  Want them to be swimming naked to accentuate the feeling of being free and at one with nature.

·      Reeds… Representing the reed-bed filter systems possibly used around the swimming lake plus to create habitat for wildlife.