23rd annual Wildlife Art Festival. Nov 18-20 2005

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The 23rd annual Wildlife Art Festival

November 18th, 19th and 20th 2005

San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands CA

http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/museum/...rt_festival.htm

The 23rd annual Wildlife Art Festival at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 18, 19, and 20, 2005. Festival hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Twenty five prominent wildlife artists will exhibit their paintings, sculptures, carvings, and limited edition prints in the museum’s Hall of History and Schuilling Gallery. Organized by the San Bernardino County Museum Association, sales of the artworks comprise the major fund raising activity for the museum each year.

The 2005 festival artist is Diane Versteeg from Palm Desert, presenting a featured print titled Brazil’s Reverie. Signed limited edition prints will also be on sale at the festival. The festival includes the top entries from this year’s Federal Duck Stamp Competition in their first West Coast exhibition after the competition. Children’s art is represented by entries from the Junior Duck Stamp Competition and by classroom projects in the Tom Bennett Children’s Art and Environmental Science Competition, open to students in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Educational booths and displays from a variety of conservation and environmental groups are also slated for the festival.

Festival History

The foundation for the Wildlife Art Festival was laid when the top paintings from the Federal Duck Stamp Competition were first shown on the West Coast in 1983 at the San Bernardino County Museum. From this exhibit of small, exquisitely detailed paintings, the Wildlife Art Festival evolved into a major west coast art event and a premier attraction for wildlife art collectors and artists.

The festival has grown and changed over the years while maintaining its focus on wildlife and conservation. First known as a “Wildfowl Festival,” art works featured water birds. As more and more artists sought to enter their works in the festival, a wider range of wildlife paintings was accepted into the event. This year, twenty five artists were selected from entries throughout the United States. Artists are allowed to show a limited number of works that fall outside the strict definition of ‘wildlife,’ broadening the experience for the visitors.

Festival Artists

Since 1987, an “Artist of the Year” has selected every year to produce a work of art as a signature piece for that year’s event. This year, Diane Versteeg from Palm Desert presents Brazil’s Reverie. Limited edition prints along with the original painting will be featured at the festival. Featured artists in the past festivals were Robert Steiner (1987, Pintails Over the Colorado and 1996, Incandescent Wilderness), Joe Garcia (1988, Bald Eagle and 1999, Waiting), Mario Fernandez (1989, Golden Wings), Robert R. Copple (1990, Totems of the North), Daniel Smith (1991, Dawn’s Early Light), Sherrie Russell Meline (1992, Ring-necked Ducks), Lee Kromschroeder (1993, Pairs Skating), Lindsay Scott (1994, North of the Serengeti), Adele Earnshaw (1995, A Stitch in Time), Lindsey Foggett (1997, Winter Crossing), Pamela Stoehsler (1998, Breakfast at Anna’s), Rock Newcomb (2000, Misty Morning Silence), Vicky Hipsley (2001, Afternoon Stroll: Cinnamon Black Bear), Victoria Wilson-Schultz (2002, Edge of the Cornfield: Red Fox), Carol Heiman- Greene (2003, Seeing Spots), and Susan Labouri (2004, How Otterly Sweet).

Other participating artists for this year’s festival are Ray Brown Jr. (Lake Forest CA), Mike Diaz (Ramona CA), Adele Earnshaw (Sedona AZ), Lindsey Foggett (Forest Falls CA), Susan Fox (McKinleyville CA), Lynn Freed (Laguna Beach CA), Joe Garcia (Julian CA), Carol Heiman-Greene (Orange CA), Vickey Hipsley (El Dorado Hills CA), Gary Johnson (Encinitas CA), Lee Kromschroeder (Escondido CA), Susan Labouri (Big Bear Lake CA), Rob Mullen (Forest Falls CA), Rock Newcomb (Payson AZ), Robert Nichols (San Diego CA), Linda Parkinson (Arcata CA), Nicole Perretta (San Diego CA), Dennis Schroeder (Junction City CA), Pam Stoehsler (Klamath Falls OR), Todd Swaim (Peoria AZ), Linda Walker (Bemidji MN), Jan Wax and Chris Bing (Philo CA), Patti Wilson (Bakersfield CA), and Terry Woodall (North Bend OR).

Tom Bennett Children’s Art and Environmental Science Competition

The importance that the museum places on education and the efforts it makes to serve children as well as adults is typified at the Wildlife Art Festival by the Tom Bennett Children’s Art and Environmental Science Competition. Sponsored in part by the San Bernardino County Fish and Game Commission, the competition encourages elementary grade students to work with their school classes in learning about wildlife habitats. This year, “Water Habitats of Southern California” was explored through study and creative environmental art in grade level competitions, with close attention being paid to animals, plants, and their specialized habitats. The competition is dedicated to the memory of Tom Bennett, under whose guidance many wildlife species were protected during his years with the California Fish and Game
Commission.

The San Bernardino County Museum is at the California Street exit from Interstate 10 in Redlands. Admission during the festival is $6 (adult); $5 (senior and student); and $4 (child aged 5-12). Children under 5 and Museum Association members are admitted free. Parking is free. The museum’s Garden Café will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the Exploration Station live animal gallery will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, call (909) 307-2669 or visit http://www.sbcountymuseum.org. The San Bernardino County Museum is accessible to persons with disabilities. If assistive listening devices or other auxiliary aids are needed in order to participate in museum exhibits or programs, requests should be made through Museum Visitor Services at least three business days prior to your visit. Visitor Services’ telephone number is (909) 307-2669 ext. 22

 

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WILDLIFE ART FESTIVAL -- Jim Matthews-ONS --09nov05

Duck stamp art festival next week at San Bernardino county museum

Outdoor News Service

The top 100 entries in the federal duck stamp design competition will be on display during the annual Wildlife Art Festival held November 18-20 at the San Bernardino County Museum -- including the winning artwork.

Winning this competition is a little like hitting the Lotto, only there is more skill and effort involved than merely plunking down a buck at the 7/11.

Each year, the nation's top wildlife artists -- those well-known and established in the field and a growing crop of budding, eager talents -- submit their paintings, following the guidelines about size and which birds to paint. If they win the judging, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gets to keep their artwork, the design is used on the federal duck stamp the following year, and the artist doesn't get a penny.

So what's in it for them? First off, there's instant recognition around the world. Second, they retain the right to make reproductions of their winning artwork and sell them. To anyone who's ever attended a Ducks Unlimited or California Waterfowl Association fundraising dinner, you know that the duck stamp prints, signed and numbered, framed with a stamp, perhaps remarqued with some original art in the print margin are hotcake sellers.

Most artists figure winning the duck stamp competition is worth $1 million or more just in sales of prints. What it does for their career, especially the new comers or less well-known, is worth even more.

This year's winner, Sherrie Russell Meline from Mt. Shasta in Northern California, is already well established as a wildlife artist. She's been a professional since the mid-1970s, and when she moved to Mount Shasta from her native Wisconsin in 1980, she began to specialize in waterfowl and other wildlife. Her paintings have been featured as state waterfowl and game stamps in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Idaho, Iowa, Nevada, Alaska, Washington, and several provinces in Canada.

The federal duck stamp competition spawned all of these other conservation stamp programs, which have generated great sums of money for wildlife through stamp sales. For example, the federal duck stamp raises approximately $25 million each year to fund waterfowl habitat acquisition for the National Wildlife Refuge System.

All waterfowl hunters 16 and older are required to purchase and carry federal duck stamps along with their respective states' hunting licenses and state waterfowl stamps. A duck stamp can also be used by non-hunters to gain free admission to any one of the 540 refuges in the national system.

So the artist isn't the only one who makes out on this deal.

And in Meline's case, she donates to most of the major hunter-conservation groups to help fund private on-the-ground work to benefit wildlife. She is a major donor to Ducks Unlimited, the California Waterfowl Association, the National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever, Quail Unlimited, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Meline is also no stranger to the Wildlife Art Festival. She's been at the event exhibiting her art for a number of years, and she was the event's featured artist in 1992, and she will return this year to join two dozens other wildlife artists from the western United States who will show and sell their work.

The Wildlife Art Festival is the only location in the West where the federal duck stamp art will be displayed this year.

Russell Meline's painting of a Ross' goose was chosen over 233 other entries, including six former winning artists. She's proof that persistence pays off. Russell Meline has entered the federal duck stamp competition 15 times over the last 25 years.

The San Bernardino County Museum is just north of Interstate 10 at the California Street exit in Redlands. During the Wildlife Art Festival the museum will be open Friday, November 18 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday November 19 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, November 20 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for students or seniors, and $4 for children 5 to 12. Children under five and Museum Association members are admitted free. Parking is free. For more information, call (909) 307-2669.