AFC Blog - Featuring compelling articles by nature art and conservation leaders

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At AFC, our vision is to lead a global artistic movement that inspires individuals and organizations to preserve and sustain our natural heritage by uniting the talent and passion of the world’s most gifted nature artists. This blog has been created as a means for AFC leadership to share thoughts and expertise about topics relating to art and conservation, featuring regular articles by AFC President, Jeff Whiting, and a range of guest bloggers.

AFC Announces New Exhibit in Qingdao China
Posted on Monday, June 5, 2017 by AFC
Artists for Conservation

Vancouver, BC., CANADA - June 12, 2017 - Artists for Conservation (AFC) is pleased to announce a new partnership and special exhibit tour to mainland China this summer. Following a tour in North America, AFC's international exhibit will be exhibited at the Lanwan Art Museum at Lanwan Eco Art Park - a 50-acre ecological park, monumental sculpture garden, art village and public gallery, located in one of China's most beautiful and important coastal cities - Qingdao City.

The exhibit will open officially on August 1, 2017 - September 30, 2017. The exhibit will feature 126 original paintings and sculptures by AFC artists. A delegation of 10 AFC artists will be in attendance for a formal opening weekend, August 4-6, and to demonstrate diverse artistic techniques to museum visitors. A portion of artwork sales will support youth education and wildlife conservation efforts in China. Artist delegates include Brent Cooke, Carel Brest van Kempen, Terry...

AFC Announces New Exhibit in Qingdao China
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Nature Art Uncovered – The Time of Classification
Posted on Friday, May 6, 2011 by Robert Parkin
Artists for Conservation

At some stage, every artist will be asked the same question: “An artist, how interesting. What do you paint?” Most people would think this is easy to answer, but you know it’s not. I’ve tried almost every way of explaining I can think of, a list of explanations that at some stage will inevitably illicit the response “Oh, a wildlife artist.” The list has included landscape, history, plants – but when it gets to wildlife, bingo! 

Nature Art Uncovered – The Time of Classification

Charming Encounters at Algonquin Provincial Park
Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Kelly Dodge
Artists for Conservation

Algonquin Provincial Park is one of my favourite places to visit. Fortunately it is only a couple hours drive from my home, so I can go often. Spring, summer, autumn or winter, each season has a flavour of its own. Of the many impressive residents that inhabit the park, ranging from magnificent moose, wolves, black bears and beavers the one that charms and captivates me the most is of course feathered.

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Charming Encounters at Algonquin Provincial Park

My Feathered Friends: “Spix and the Spix’s macaw”

Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 by Ria Winters
Artists for Conservation

This is a painting of the beautiful blue Spix's macaw Cyanopsitta spixii, and  the only species in its genus which makes it monotypic. The painting was part of the 2009 AFC exhibit held at the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in New Jersey.

My Feathered Friends: “Spix and the Spix’s macaw”

The Fall of the Frog
Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 by Carel Brest van Kempen
Artists for Conservation

 

I turned 14 in May of 1972, and like any self-respecting country boy of that age, I looked forward to the impending emergence of hibernating frogs. Three ponds near my home harbored good populations of Northern Leopard Frogs,  and each summer I brought home several eggs to watch the twitching embryos grow within their gelatinous orbs before bursting from them and metamorphosing into small frogs over the summer.

The Fall of the Frog

Connecting the Dots
Posted on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 by Rachel Dillon
Through Endangered Eyes - Book by AFC Artist, Rachel Dillon

 

I have one goal when I walk into an elementary school classroom: to teach kids why they need to care about endangered species. I'm not a biologist, or a scientist, I'm an artist with a slightly different approach to things.

My presentation starts with what inspired me to create my non-fiction children's picture book, "Through Endangered Eyes - a poetic journey into the wild" - my passion to help animals in trouble. I tell them that I believe every creature has a job to do on the planet, and when one species disappears, the world becomes unbalanced.

Connecting the Dots

My Feathered Friends: Maintaining Everyday Backyard Relationships
Posted on Sunday, February 20, 2011 by Kelly Dodge
Artists for Conservation

This morning I woke up to the ear piercing pulse of the Starship Enterprise's "red alert" alarm. Apparently I watched a lot of Star Trek during the formative years of Hoover's life. (Yeah, yeah, I'm a closet Trekky). Brad and I often wake up to the sounds of crows cawing, ambulance sirens screaming or the melodic song of a cardinal....all coming from the kitchen. The culprit is Hoover, our chatty, captive-raised, 20 year old Congo African Grey Parrot.

My Feathered Friends: Maintaining Everyday Backyard Relationships

The Art of Business
Posted on Saturday, February 5, 2011 by Pollyanna Pickering
Pollyanna Pickering - The Art of Business

Many people have a vision of an artist as someone blissfully detached from the realities of life - working only when the muse takes them, floating through life on a cloud of dreamy inspiration as far removed from tax returns and binding contracts as it is possible to be.

Or alternatively they might imagine an impassioned and slightly demented figure, starving poetically in a garret, working feverishly while existing on a diet of scrounged cigarettes and absinthe, never to be recognised in their own lifetime.

The Art of Business

Painting the Painted Dog: Planning an Impactful Field Expedition for Awareness & Education

Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2011 by Alison Nicholls
Artists for Conservation

In 2007 I was awarded AFC's 5th Flag Expedition Fellowship and had the amazing experience of spending 6 weeks at the Painted Dog Conservation project (PDC) in Zimbabwe, tracking and sketching highly endangered African wild dogs (known as Painted Dogs in Zimbabwe). The main objectives of my project were to raise awareness of this unique and persecuted species and to raise funds for their conservation.

Painting the Painted Dog: Planning an Impactful Field Expedition for Awareness & Education

Nature Art Uncovered - The Beginnings
Posted on Monday, January 24, 2011 by Robert Parkin
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch

In 1504 Hieronymus Bosch, living in the low countries of Northern Europe, applied the last touches to an image that has puzzled the world ever since. "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (1503-1504) seems to suggest a utopian world, yet running through the work are a series of human frailties that end in the ultimate damnation of the human race.

Nature Art Uncovered - The Beginnings

2010 Year in Review

Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 by Jeffrey Whiting

As 2011 gets underway, we would like to take a moment to look back at 2010, and celebrate with you a year of success, progress, impact and excitement at AFC.

While conflict, greed, corruption, negligence and natural disasters may have been at the forefront of the world's media headlines throughout 2010, we also witnessed inspiring stories of hope, determination, action and positive change around the world. We would like to think that AFC has been and continues to be at the forefront of leading a story of positive change and impact through what we do and know best - creating awareness about and celebrating our natural world through our art.

To advance AFC's mission of supporting the environment through art, increasing awareness in our communities about the work we do is critical. We have made a major push over the past year to develop the infrastructure and strategy to support our member efforts and significantly grow our visibility online and offline.

2010 Year in Review
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