What is wildlife art?
Wildlife art encompasses visual art from a variety of mediums such as drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and digital art. These artists have a united purpose of celebrating and educating about the beauty of the natural world. Efforts centre around issues of conservation which include preserving Earth’s natural resources and protecting endangered species/habitats.
There exists a multitude of creative techniques to depict wildlife, from photorealism, realism, abstract-realism to pure abstraction. Within my own practise I use realism to depict highly detailed and accurate representation of wildlife. I also enjoy the challenge it brings to develop my skill level in order to achieve the illusion of depth on a 2D surface. I couldn't do this without collaboration with outstanding wildlife photographers to obtain high quality reference images for my artwork.
Wildlife art in action
Wildlife art plays a significant role within modern society with wildlife charities offering exciting opportunities for artists. Notable examples include David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and Explorers Against Extinction, whereby artists can enter competitions such as ‘wildlife artist of the year’ to contribute to fundraising whilst furthering their artistic career. Please see below for a selection of my favourite artworks from my visit to ‘wildlife artist of the year 2023’ at Mall Galleries, London (September 2023). Entries to ‘wildlife artist of the year 2024’ are now open with an expected exhibition happening late 2024. I’m entering the competition for the first time this year, wish me luck!
To explore the ‘wildlife artist of the year’ competition and the participating artists, please visit the website:
Wildlife art photography
Charitable organisations such as The Photographic Angle offer free public access to pop-up events across the UK showcasing photography on a range of environmental themes. I had the opportunity to attend ‘wildlife of the world’ and was blown away by the photographer’s thoughtful depiction of wild animals. Please see below for a few of my favourite photographs from the pop-up event in Reading, Berkshire (January 2024).
“If there are 10 million different species on Earth, and the current extinction rate is just 0.01% per year, at least 10,000 species go extinct every year. The rapid loss of species we are seeing today is estimated by experts to be between 1000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate.”
(World Wildlife Fund).
For more information about participating photographers and upcoming exhibitions, please visit the website: https://www.thephotographicangle.co.uk
Thank you for your interest in this blog post, I hope you continue to engage in the conservation of wildlife art and support conservation efforts by artists. Please leave a comment to share your opinion on wildlife art and any exciting opportunities you have discovered for artists to get involved in.
I look forward to hearing from you!