This year, Artists for Conservation, one of the leading artist groups in the world supporting environmental conservation efforts, celebrates its 25th anniversary. The organization, which has grown into an international network of nearly 500 nature/wildlife artists, originally began as a web-based artist group of just 40 artists back in 1998. This year, as AFC prepares for its annual Artists for Conservation Festival,there’s more to celebrate than ever.
Suzie Seerey-Lester, Twilight Alert, acrylic, 12 x 16”
In total, 200 juried artworks were selected for this year’s exhibit by 172 artists across 14 countries—and each work of art sold in the exhibit supports a conservation organization of the artists’ choice. Among those 200 works, around 84 will be on view during the festival itself, which runs September 21 to 24 at the VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, British Columbia. Among the many artists represented in the show are Suzie Seerey-Lester, Cher Anderson, Lynden Cowan, Gordon Pembridge, Kimberly Wurster, Agnieszka Elliott and Margaret Sarah Pardy.
“I want my paintings to tell stories,” says Seerey-Lester. The artist describes two pieces she will be showing in the upcoming exhibition. “In Treasure Trove, the raven has collected a variety of objects in its nest. There are sunglasses, beads, a pearl necklace, hotel keys, car keys, jacks, cellophane, marbles, just to name a few…In Twilight Alert,the mountain lion perches on the top of the mountain, aware of his surroundings, alert as the twilight approaches.”
Top: Gordon Pembridge, Dappled Respite, oil on mounted Belgian linen, 22½ x 35½”. Bottom: Agnieszka Elliott, Phantom, oil on Belgian linen, 40 x 30”; Margaret Sarah Pardy, Great Blue Heron, ink on scratchboard, 16 x 20”
Anderson has been an artist for the majority of her life, and she has found an incredible joy in painting animals both in nature and by using her design background to create images used as references for her paintings. “Combining nature in all its forms, even if they are not coherent, they are beautifully designed to make sense,” she says. Her new style has a unique end result, she adds, executed with precise detail and light.
“As a wildlife artist and conservationist, I strongly believe in the power of art to inspire positive change and protect our natural heritage. My goal is to create a bond between the viewer and the beauty of the natural world by evoking emotions and curiosity,” says Elliott. Her oil Phantom depicts a snow leopard deliberately moving down a rockface, the cat’s face in sharp detail.
A group of guinea fowl seek rest from the midday heat in Pembridge’s Dappled Respite. “The welcoming and sparse dappled shade are one of life’s essentials in the wild,” says the artist. “The entanglement of branches, as if writhing in the agonizing heat, provide shelter for the bejeweled guinea fowl. A study of highlight and shadow, of dapple and dot and the beauty of cobalt teal, ultramarine blue and cadmium red.”
Top: Cher Anderson, Aussie Rosellas, acrylic on board, 36 x 24”; Suzie Seerey-Lester, Dawn Assembly, acrylic, 20 x 16”. Bottom: Cher Anderson, Tempting Fate, watercolor on paper, 20 x 13.3”; Kimberly Wurster, Varied Thrush, Moss and Maple, pastel, 20 x 24”
A pastelist, Wurster’s first love is painting birds. “I find total peace in listening to them call and sing, going about the daily business of being a bird. I work from my own reference photos, but there is absolutely no substitute for time spent observing my subjects, absorbing the atmosphere on multiple levels,” she says. “Depicting the habitat in which my subjects are found is also a source of great joy for me. When watching a bird or any form of wildlife, not only function but thrive in an in-tact environment, I feel a tremendous sense of harmony.”
For AFC members, the concept of conservation and environmental protection is ever present in the mind. Cowan hopes that “when viewing my work, people will become more environmentally aware and avoid wastage. The forests and waterways are important to all, human and animal, and proper management is needed as we all do our part for climate control.” Her oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, Emerald Reflections,is a 24-by-36-inch view of the beautiful Emerald Lake in British Columbia.
Clockwise from left: Kimberly Wurster, Wigeon Drake in Spring, pastel, 15 x 21”; Suzie Seerey-Lester, Treasure Trove, acrylic, 24 x 12”; Lynden Cowan, Emerald Reflections, oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, 24 x 36”
Pardy’s creative process starts with original photographs taken from nature, which she then uses to create a compelling composition for her final artwork. “The great blue heron is one of the most majestic birds of the marshlands,” she says. “My image was my way of showing this birds elegance when it is in flight, as it gracefully flies over a marshland.”
A preview event for the 2023 festival takes place September 16, including a print exhibit in partnership with the Wild Bird Trust of BC and featuring AFC artists from the local British Columbia chapter at North Vancouver’s Maplewood Conservancy. A Meet-the-Artists Reception will be held at the VanDusen Botanical Garden on September 21 from 7 to 10 p.m. on the festival’s opening day. —
Artists for Conservation Festival
September 21-24, 2023
VanDusen Botanical Garden, 5151 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC V6M 4H1
www.artistsforconservation.org
www.vandusengarden.org
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