Ceri Levy: 'Ralph Steadman’s line is magnificent. He has captured the whole essence of the bird. I love the poise of it, skulking low - it looks like it’s up to something devious' Photograph: Ralph Steadman
Rebecca Jewell. 'Rebecca Jewell's Choiseul Crested Pigeon includes a label, a reference to her visit to the Natural History Museum's research department where they keep all the specimens, labelled up and tagged to record their history. She often uses feathers in her work, which makes it feel very sculptural.' Photograph: Rebecca Jewell
'Ben Newman is one of a group of up-and-coming graphic artists who are absolutely great. This giclee print of a Bishop’s O’o’ feels quite modern but the background patterns nod to the 50s' Photograph: Ben Newman
Peter Blake. Ceri Levy: 'This is a subtle, reflective piece; a shocking, thought provoking list of all the birds we have already lost and also of those currently in danger in this, the 21st century. This is a powerful elegy for birds from one of our truly great artists.' Photograph: Peter Blake
Jamie Hewlett. 'Crows feature quite a lot in Jamie Hewlett’s work - think of the Gorillaz videos. This strange guy driving the Hawaiian crow as his vehicle is so typical of Jamie’s mind, so brilliantly madcap, carried off with style, skill and panache'
Photograph: Jamie Hewlett
Bruce Pearson. 'Having been sub-aqua diving in the cold waters of Western Scotland a few times', says Pearson 'and once or twice seen razorbills and guillemots flash by underwater, I tried to imagine what a feeding frenzy of great auks might have been like a couple of centuries ago.' Photograph: Bruce Pearson
'Billy Childish’s wonderful painting has a great colour scheme and thick gloops of paint on the canvas' Photograph: Billy Childish
Hannah Bays. 'Aside from the 'showy' Parrots and parakeets, the Pigeon struck me as a 'bird of the people', says Bays. 'I was drawn to the name - The Passenger, it evokes something mythical and transcendental yet something we can also all relate to as travellers through life. I once heard Tom Waits call in to Bob Dylan's theme-time radio show and read a passage about the Passenger pigeon, and you can't really beat that for PR!' Photograph: Hannah Bays
Dafila Scott. Asked about why she chose to depict the Pink-Headed Duck, Scott says, 'Because I was brought up with waterfowl at Slimbridge and because my father had painted them. There was a small watercolour of a male pink-headed duck which lived on the shelf in the studio which was somehow memorable.' Photograph: Dafila Scott
Matt Sewell: 'Through research I was particularly saddened about how this small, green, flightless wren was simply snuffed out by one cat', says Sewell. 'The massive lighthouse structure shows mankind as an equal villain as the cat in this story of the wren's extinction. Alas the wren is now amongst the stars.' Photograph: Matt Sewell
