How Are Artists Helping Endangered Species

This research study will refer to how specific artists like Gary Hodges, Harriet Mead and Martin Aveling have done to help and benefit the endangered species. Any awards in which they have been awarded for the aid of the animals and how they’ve been inspired by past and present influences to become what they are today. Add Andy Warhol, (a sentence about him) Alexis Kandra (1 sentence about Alexis-). JADE ( will look at JADES art) Roger Peet (one sentence ) Brandon Ballgee(one sentence ) Also refer to the organisations and Muriel art. Extinct/WWF/Tim Flach (expand on introduction )

Gary Hodges

Gary Hodges from an early age has picked up inspiration from nature to study and document them, thus falling in love with the concept of working alongside the animals and able to pin point areas in which need aid but expressed using the illustrative power. Hodges would capture every detail in the selected animal or species and would express the differences within each subject. Without words and just images Hodges can communicate everything within his line of work.

Harriet Mead

Harriet Mead felt the need to use unused materials and compiled them into a recycled piece, Mead would continue to get as close as the species is so that meads work would be able to show the audience what they would be missing by showing of the scale within the animals. The rusted tools also give off an expression of deterioration this shows that as time goes on without the help of others these creatures would simply wither away. Presenting an expression of happy or sad helps the audience feel for the artwork, as if they have a personal connection within the work itself then making an idea go into their heads which then sparks off an opinion. ( you might be taking this out)

Martin Aveling

Martin Aveling was inspired from an early age as Aveling’s parents owned their own animal conversation. Whilst wandering around their fenced off areas, looking after the animals Aveling was able to pick up emotions in which Aveling hadn’t realised existed. With this knowledge Aveling was able to best pick out different snapshot angles of the faces of the species and then Aveling was able to create a piece which was fitting for the expression in which Aveling got. Aveling won awards for his expressive use of pencil and chalk and has his work shown on the covers of the product ‘Derwent Pastel Pencils.’

Literature review;

Finding books, why are the books relevant? This applies to all forms of research so therefore articles, websites and documentaries are relevant research study materials. I have done a rough copy of the draft down below, I will add if I find anything else of use.

Matilsky (2018) in Endangered Species, highlights the vast majority of artists, 60 in number, who are working towards raising awareness of biodervsity, nature with a specific focus on human induced extinction. Similarly (Book 1) Furthermore (Article 2) Additionally (article 3 ) Finally (article 4)

Endangered Species: Artists on the Front Line of Biodiversity (Barbara C. Matilsky, 2018) I am going to look at this book because it’s got 60 artists, biodiversity and nature and human-induced extinctions.

Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art (Barbara C. Matilsky, 2013) This book looks at the threats that approach the changing climate within the ice regions of the earth. It also looks at the environment’s as dramatic indicators to make people aware about global warming. This book is themed around politics.

Embedded symmetries, Natural and cultural (Dorothy Koster Washburn, 2004) This book highlights natural and cultural perspectives.

Realism (Pam Morris, 2004) This book covers the realism of the art world, it talks about the concepts of realism, realist art and the differences.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/white-rhino-dies-other-animals-on-brink-of-extinction/ The World’s Most endangered species. Giving studies on how recent statistics fall into place, there is a lot of evidence seeing the divide between both sides of argument.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/zoos-cruel-wildlife-conservation-species-a9056701.html Zoos are outdated and cruel – its time to make them a thing of the past (14-08-19) (Damian Aspinall) This is to show off the other side of how people feel keeping animals enclosed within zoos, some of the sources and artists prove and give off reasons for their side of help but this article is the opposite side and discuss reasons on why it is bad for the environment as well as the animals themselves.

Art and Design: The natural world (The Musuem) https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/06%20The%20Natural%20World%20FINAL.pdf This document helps with the artistic side of the work within the animals and nature. This shows everyone how the people can generate artwork involving the animals but not to use anything to hurt them in anyway. This also guides people for a specific topic and uses specific themes and activities. So alongside the art and design aspect there is contextual understandings about the general topic too.

Art and Nature (Natural History Museum) ( Wildlife) https://www.nhm.ac.uk/business-services/touring-exhibitions/art-of-nature.html Building on our knowledge of the natural world we need some sort of differences in some research so therefore I found this article which explains how a new exhibition helps and explores ways of understanding our natural world so therefore we should be better equipped with that knowledge and we would be able to take it further and do something about it.

Guerilla Art

Research on Guerrilla art originated in the UK and is a form of the early stages of street art. It’s a sense of liberation when an artist can express their thoughts onto the still walls of the buildings. It’s more like a political statement as the statements themselves are portrayed in the outside walls of the corporate buildings. This evokes questions and more often they don’t get a answer which makes the artwork even better as a whole. Anything which generates a question and makes people curious is a very good talking point it then goes off into the world and more and more people generate more questions until the media see it and then it explodes.The work itself is often referred to a collage of different media’s and mediums, this is because it could range from the normal standard stencil work or it could be some altercations to already standing work or it could even be considered as a fine art piece. The word guerrilla means ‘a member of a small independent group taking part in irregular fighting, typically against larger regular forces’ This definition helps us understand that the main focus to this means this art movement is breaking away from the normal understanding of the main indicators to what determines art as art. The art itself tries to make the general public do something, the artists want to make a reaction out of everything they do as a piece of work, they will generally target main iconic buildings and try and get up into high reaches to the similar level of billboards so It intentionally captures the eye sight and their attention so that the reader can further analyse the image and make their own question and opinion about the piece. Some of the artists refer to their work as ‘trapped art’ as some audiences want more of the art in their spaces which defeats the whole purpose of being this specific art movement as they like to make one art piece and one and done kind of thing. But the people feel the need for more and often don’t expressively go out and get the artists permission and therefore make the mass produced versions of the artwork to generate money. Banksy is one of the most iconic Guerrilla artists, this artists makes sure to generate work based off weekly or monthly events and wants to change peoples opinions about the world and wants to make people think more rather than just believing everything that the media tell you its like breaking away from the media and having your own opinion. More often the media tries to bounce back and tries to make Banksy the villain but again the artwork is shown on display with no attempt of making money they are billboards trying to bring a point across to the general public.

Breaking from the norm, makes power with the people but all of the works on display on the buildings are illegal and anyone trying to make the pieces of artwork are caught would be arrested on site. Some building owners and business owners actively reach out to this art movement to try and get them to design some art murals as they either like the visuals or the opinion in which the artist portrays through the work. Some Guerrilla artworks have made some sorts of brands but the money goes towards the artists making the brand and most of the money goes towards the political standards of the work itself so therefore they go to the charities in which their trying to help by making all this artwork. To make sure that the Guerrilla art retains its flair it has to be met by some specific guides in which the general media has, to define what street art is and so therefore it has some sort of clarification in the general areas.

Extinction March: Skeletons Rebellion & XR Bones

Mural – Paint the Streets campaign

As part of the Extinction Rebellion Public Art Program Jane Mutiny who is a visual artist has created and photographed this mural. In a recent interview with Mutiny she said: “On the left side of the symbol are animals which are very near to extinction, the animals in the symbol are already extinct, and the right shows animals and plants thought to be gone, but are actually still out there in the wild.”

This shows us of all of the animals affected by poaching and other man made solutions. To show their beuty and how they would look in the wild in a bright vibrant way to show us the audience that if we continue what were doing itll affect the rest of the world and it will most likely make more and more creatures add to the wall. The wall is like a reminder of what could add to it, there is a lot of black negative space for that intended purpose. In addition the backs of all of animals just present themeselves with a outline, this then shows us that they are indeed fading away in exsistance and without the Extinction Rebellion Public Art program that the animals are going to fade away into the cold black background. As all of the animals are slowly walking towards the symbol in the centre there is some hope left and it shows the audience that this could be the cure to all of the extinction dialemas (https://rebellion.earth/2019/10/21/creative-rebellion-arts-and-culture-highlights-from-international-rebellion-london/)

Andy Warhol

Warhol was approached in the late 1980’s to produce some silk printed art works to promote the endangered species and also to show off all of the animals in a new light (Anon,2014). Warhol accepted to make the artwork for the enviromental activitists as they knew Warhol was a animal lover. The use of rainbow slik screens greatly helped and aided the work to make a new and striking way of showing off key features within the work. These animals were on the brink of extinction and the aid and support that the artwork received most of the general earnings from the work that Warhol made was sent in aid for the animals. These artworks and images is part of the Endangered Species Series.

Grevy’s Zebra – (Anon,2014).

Seen within this image on the right it looks to be quite psychodelic, with the vibrant colours and the opposite colours being depicted within the background of the piece it brings out all of the other different bits of the piece itself. The line work is in a fade and messes up the line within the work but because the work itself is already abstract with the colours that don’t fit within realism it draws out some hidden details within the piece. The artist intentionally made some fades lighter than the other bits to express the shape and mass of the Zebra itself. Roughly about 70% of the canvas has the zebra and the rest of the canvas is a light neutral blue colour, it eases the eye because too much detail would greatly affect the overall face of the piece. The proportions of the ead to the neck is quite small so this could suggest that the zebra is either in distress or is in fact old. The eye facing past the viewer shows that the zebra doesn’t really care anymore about facing the audience. Therefore that can add effects in which the audience would like the satisfaction of being seen so that the audience and the zebra can see if theyre both fine. As the main point of seeing if one is fine is through the eyes. The eyes themselves is one of the biggest sign posts to discuss how an animal is feeling. The top mane of the zebra is intentionally blurred out and the dark blue of the mane exceeds the border of the line work with the general shape of the zebra itself this is to breach any normal guides that people would assoicate with being ‘perfect’ its like a rebel to go out of the lines within the work and this pocesses some more hidden affects within the work. So therefore to show a zebra in this way can show off more than intended. Showing the grace in which an animal could have and having hot colours can also show off that this indeed ‘hot’ like where it comes from is hot or it could also represent danger as the true colours of the zebra is in the right of the canvas itself. Andy Warhol is considered a celebraty in the artistic field, after showing off major celebs back in those days and then shifting the attention to the animals Warhol was able to show off the dangers of missing these animals, showing them off in a abstract way would make sure that the animals would be shown off in a different funky way. Warhol’s work received a lot of money which did indeed help those animals in need.

Overall looking at all of the pieces of artwork looking at Andy Warhol’s work shows off the animals in a way like a SOS flare, in a art gallery if these where to show near some other peoples work they would stand out and would catch a lot of eyes, then after the attention is caught by the audience it wouldn’t take that long for them to read passages near them and study about them, then it would give off the impression that these animals and creatures need aid. They would get the aid if the work was sold or even if because this was made for the Enviromental Activists that group of people would have best promoted the Andy Warhol’s work alongside with making approaches to the work itself and with the audience who would view it. With an added bonus that Andy Warhol was considered a celeb this would further the cause in which it needed to succeed. This artwork greatly improve the chances of extinction within the world for specific animals by the early 90s, so this is a great benifactor within the animal kingdom. Having different meanings within the work can also pose differences in opinions with the viewer, which this is indeed subjective in this field. Having pieces of artwork change the opinions to greatly benefit the aid of animals for the good.

Book – Endangered by Tim Flach, Jonathan Baillie and Sam Wells Hardcover, 335 pages

This book states that the humans are to blame about animals being endangered and are in risk. “Earth is facing an extinction crisis – and humans shoulder the blame.” (Chen, 2017) Therefore there are references about artists helping but this book references some photogtaphers who aid the animals by showing their expressions within the imagery. By changing their views to make them do some sort of action ‘The romanticizing, free, wild images [of animals] weren’t necessarily getting people to take action,’ Flach says. ‘I wanted to think about what kind of images people engage in and how you tell a story to get people to connect to [the animal].’ (Flach, 2017)

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/12/16/570816522/photos-animals-that-could-disappear-because-of-us?t=1574336565264

Extinked, http://www.extinked.org.uk/gallery.html

Tattoo art was used to highlight the plight of many birds, insects, plants and mammals. That art advertising what happens if we don’t help the animals within the skin of people during an event that was set up. The artists drew the initial images in a pen and ink so it was easier to transfer into tattoo designs all of which were created by Jai Redman. This project was appraised by Dr Ben Darvill who state “At a time of alarming biodiversity loss and unprecedented climate change it is more important than ever that innovative approaches are used to engage with people and reconnect them to their natural environment. This shows us that the ways of showing the endangered species is forever changing in the fact that the people art trying to make ways of redefining art within the artistic world.

Conclusion

Many artists and extinction movements have focussed on raising awareness of endangered species. Hodges contribution was came in the form of charitable funding which helped to protect these species and he became recognised by organisations for his immense contribution. Furthermore various books and articles have also highlighted the plight of endangered species; ….. (You can name the authors of the books or the names of the books to summarise here ), These forms of literature have become important to raise awareness of a cause that is current and important. A particular form of art that has been very active in raising awareness for these species is Guerilla Art. (say something that summarises the contribution of Guerilla art to this movement). Similarly other programmes have included Extinction with artists like Jane……(summary of the mural art contribution ).

This is one of the designs in which the artists put on members of the public. It is known as ‘Otter’ and the level of shading and detail within the design itself. When people come across this tattoo it is like a different form of advertising, so when people have this tattoo or many others get approached then the people asking do more research into it and then an idea or motion is planted into their heads so therefore having this expressive way to show what is actually extinct is a major way of showing what is actually going to be missed out on the person. If the person has the design on a specific body part then that could address that we are working on preventing more people to have more tattoos on the people as possible if not then the people will be covered head to toe in new different extinct plants, animals and insects.

Overall looking at new ways of making people aware, this is one of the best ways of making people think about what is to come. Like a mini advertisement to address that some of these creatures have gone but haven’t been forgotten. This is the same as