Mathew Tekulsky’s photograph of a Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) has been chosen to participate in ‘Endangered Species: Flora and Fauna in Peril,’ an international juried art competition at The Wilding Art Museum in Los Olivos. The exhibition will run from June 22 through September 14 before traveling to the Department of the Interior Museum in Washington, D.C., and The Wildlife Experience in Parker, Colorado. The exhibition will feature 50 works of art in a variety of media (drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture) depicting flora and fauna listed as threatened or endangered in North America by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. More than 47 species will be represented, among them the California condor, grizzly bear, black-footed ferret, Oahu tree snail, Sonora tiger salamander, Mesa Verde cactus, and Texas wild rice. This year’s works were selected from nearly 200 entries by a distinguished jury that included E. G. Hochberg, Ph.D., curator of invertebrate zoology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History; Hollis Hunter, director of the Museum of the U. S. Department of the Interior; Amy Scott, curator of visual art at the Autry Museum of the American West, and Karen Sinsheimer, curator of photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. ‘It can be difficult to locate threatened or endangered species and ‘capture’ them artistically without harming them,’ points out Penny Knowles, executive director of the Wildling Art Museum. ‘I admire the artists who struggled with these issues to submit such visually stunning entries.’ A Pacific Palisades resident, Tekulsky’s love and knowledge of birds began with his love of nature. The artist has dedicated himself full-time to writing for National Geographic and producing a series of books, including ‘The Butterfly Garden’ and ‘The Hummingbird Garden.’ His days of capturing the perfect image are often long and arduous. When shooting on location, he generally spends several hours in the morning taking shots, then breaks for lunch and returns to his photography for another couple of hours. Tekulsky possesses a wealth of knowledge on the subject of fowl. He studies migration patterns and old trail guides in order to figure out when and where his feathered subjects might appear. ‘If you watch birds long enough, you can anticipate their movements,’ he says. The Wildling Art Museum”located in the town of Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley, 30 miles from Santa Barbara”is an educational institution dedicated to presenting the art of America’s wilderness and preserving our natural heritage. For more information, visit www.wildlingmuseum.org or call 805-688-1082.
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