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.

International Art and Conservation Festival Moves to Vancouver’s VanDusen Botanical Garden

Posted on Sunday, July 30, 2017 by AFC
Artists for Conservation

Vancouver, B.C. (July 26, 2017) - Artists for Conservation (AFC) today announced it will kick-off its seventh annual AFC Festival and international art exhibit at the VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, BC. Presented by RE/MAX, the festival will officially open on November 9, with a special ticketed reception and four more days of art and environmental-themed programming featuring the world's foremost conservation-themed art exhibit. The event will also feature live music, films, presentations, workshops, live art demonstrations and wildlife encounters.

AFC Founder and President Jeff Whiting explains: "We're excited to be partnering with VanDusen Botanical Garden. It's a gorgeous venue - inside and out - with easy access for visitors, and a visitor centre with great potential for holding a major art exhibit."

The AFC Festival originally launched at North Vancouver's Grouse Mountain, where it ran for the previous six years. Founded in 1997, the non-profit...

International Art and Conservation Festival Moves to Vancouver’s VanDusen Botanical Garden
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The Way of the Dodo
Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 by Ria Winters
Artists for Conservation

My 2009 AFC flag expedition to Mauritius "Not the way of the Dodo" drew the attention to tragedy of extinction of which the Dodo is its unfortunate icon. Much has been written about this enigmatic bird so it is hard to mention something about it that nobody else already did. But I will try to do that in this blog, looking at the Dodo from an artist's point of view. For those who don't know this: Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean and the only place on earth where the Dodo lived.

The Way of the Dodo

The Contrary Conservationist, Part 1: Why Conserve?
Posted on Friday, May 13, 2011 by Carel Brest van Kempen
Artists for Conservation

Cŏn-sērve', v. "to keep in a safe or sound state; to save, to preserve from loss, decay, waste, or injury; to defend from violation." -Webster's Dictionary

At a recent public meeting, I was accused of caring more about tortoises than people. It wasn't the first time I'd had such charges leveled against me; in fact, it's the rare argument against conservation that leaves this rhetorical barb in the quiver.

The Contrary Conservationist, Part 1: Why Conserve?

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.

See video
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
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