Animanity News:
Animanity in Art is about raising awareness and funds for animals and wildlife conservation through making and selling art. The art I make is always searching for deeper connections between all of the animals, humans included, who share our animal kingdom. Look to this page for Animanity news, creative non-fiction writing, and information on the wildlife organizations we support. We will look at the inspirations and stories behind the art and explore the state of being animal together.
Art on 12th Open House
Art on 12th will host their first open house in three years this coming December 4th from 2:30- 4:00 PM. Good food! Good friends! Good Art! Click below to find out all the details…
Bonding with Hondo
Hondo was one of the largest chimps I had ever seen. A commanding male, he ruled his troupe at the North Carolina Zoo with a king’s presence. On more than one occasion, when Hondo was taking out his frustrations on his unruly family, I watched from a distance in absolute terror of his power and the expressions of anger and hostility on his face. I had to work very hard not to show him my fear, but somehow Hondo knew, and he seemed to relish finding new and interesting ways to scare me. He made loud noises, threw things, or spit on me. We shared a mutual dislike that I think was caused by a mutual misunderstanding of each other.
The Manatee Mother
Last fall, I had the extraordinary honor of becoming friends with a whole family of manatees, thanks to one curious youngster who decided to play with the red dive flag that was hanging off the back of my kayak. She spent a long time exploring my boat, allowing me to scratch her belly, while she tugged at and messed with the flag.
How to Be a Nuisance
Last week, while driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, a black bear crossed my path. He came lumbering up out of the ditch onto the road ahead. He was oblivious to the fact that it was peak tourist season, the weekend when everyone and their mother comes out to see the changing of the leaves. At first, I thought the youngster was a large Rottweiler. It took me a moment to compute what I was really seeing. He appeared like an apparition and came to a dead stop on the center line of the road. Our eyes met for a moment. Then as quickly as he had appeared, he scaled the sheer rock cliff in front of him and was gone…
It's Hard to Be an Elephant Mom
It’s hard to decide what should be the first blog on this, my brand new blog for Animanity in Art. This passion project, turned master’s thesis, turned life path of creating art about and for animal conservation has been a long time coming. I have so much to share. Where to start? So, I decided to start at the beginning