Masterworks For Nature

Ann Geise is from Cincinnati, Ohio and much of her work represents the local landscapes and nature, including rural farm-scapes, backyard birds, local fauna and flora. Different seasons and changing light conditions keep familiar subjects fresh and new. Moreover, her passion for travel and exploring new places also provide inspiration from subjects that are different and unfamiliar.

Ann Geise has been drawing and studying nature her entire life, learning the local plants, animals and geology and how everything is interconnected. After earning a BS in biology from Northern Kentucky University Ann worked in pharmaceutical research for several years. Eventually her nature and art interests converged at Cincinnati Nature Center in Milford, Ohio where she worked as Artist & Exhibits Manager for 19 years, designing and illustrating the Center's publications and interpretive exhibits.

Ann works in both watercolors and oils. She also combines watercolors with color pencil when rendering the fine details of nature illustrations and field sketches, creating works for interpretive signage, book illustration and prints. Oils are her choice for landscapes as well as various animal and bird subjects that are best portrayed in her engaging, impressionistic style. In recent years Ann has been collaborating with a number of nature conservation organizations to create art pieces that educate people about biodiversity in nature and help to raise funds for various related causes. Her home studio is in Batavia, Ohio.

Ann is a signature member of Society of Animal Artists

SocietyofAnimalArtists.com

Ann’s portfolio & Sales site:

AnnGeiseArt.com

anngeiseart.com

DeVere Burt is on an artistic journey exploring nature's infinite possibilities.

He is an award winning artist specializing in landscapes and animal subjects. DeVere is a former research biologist, science museum director, and founder of the artist group, Masterworks for Nature.  Masterworks has helped nonprofit organizations raise money for conservation projects. DeVere is inspired by the life and times of John James Audubon, and he has created a collection of Audubon themed paintings entitled "Audubon's River."  He is currently lecturing and exhibiting this collection around the Midwest and continuing to paint the wildlife subjects he so loves.

DeVereBurt.com

Linda Howard Bittner is forever trying to capture the charm and character of our natural world.  She has been a professional illustrator & designer for over 30 years.  Linda’s work has graced many products including greeting cards, giftware, children’s books, toys, games, puzzles and exhibits for zoos, aquariums and nature centers.  Linda also exhibits as a fine artist to help promote conservation and raise funds for non-profit organizations. Her hope is to inspire people of all ages to get out into wild spaces and appreciate our connection to nature and wild creatures. She is always sharing her talents and experience by teaching at workshops and custom events for children and adults.

Linda is also a professional wildlife & culture photographer and travel specialist. She is the founder of an adventure-travel business called Wild Art Safaris LLC providing exceptional opportunities for artist, photographers and anyone who has a passion for nature and culture to experience the world through an artist’s eye. Linda creates custom itineraries for clients and small groups as well as escorted tours that she leads herself with a goal to connect her clients with unique, in-depth experiences in WILD places all over the world.

Linda Bittner has the honor of being a member of the prestigeous world exploration society: The Explorers Club and was sponsored by John Ruthven. The Explorers Club was founded in 1904 and has celebrated the highest caliber of scientific explorers and researchers from around the globe and into space…including artists and photographers.

WildArtSafaris.com

 lindahowardbittner.com

Mary Louise Holt was an honors graduate from the College of Mount Saint Joseph with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She started her career as a graphic designer, illustrator and courtroom artist for local and national television. Using those same skills she also created exhibits for nature centers, museums and other institutions involved in environmental education both here and abroad. With comprehensive formal training in the academic tradition of fine portraiture she paints many portraits on commission. Her passion for natural history has compelled her to combine all of these skills to bring to life on canvas the rich natural history of the Eastern Frontier. Mary Louise Holt’s historical paintings as well as her portraits, landscapes and wildlife art can be found in private and corporate collections throughout the United States. Her work has also been exhibited in several prestigious museums in the United States and Europe.

 marylouiseholt.com

John Agnew first established his reputation as a muralist and illustrator for museums and zoos, but his award-winning, realistic paintings of animals and landscapes are now in collections around the world. In 2001, North Light Books published his book, “Painting the Secret World of Nature.” He has served as artist in residence in two national parks; Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in 2009, and Everglades National Park in 2011, and has exhibited in US Embassies in Costa Rica and Belarus. He is a Signature Member and an Executive Board member of the Society of Animal Artists, an international group, and a founding member of Master Works for Nature, a group of Cincinnati artists. His favorite subjects are reptiles and birds, and John has traveled the globe in search of them.

Visit John's online portfolio at:

http://www.angelfire.com/id/wildscenes/

Christopher Walden, originally from Auckland New Zealand, came to the States in 1979 for what was supposed to be a 30 day tour. Twenty–five years later he is still here and in the meantime has become a nationally known wildlife artist.  Chris feels the need to give back to the lands and animals he paints by making sure that they are still around for many generations to enjoy. To accomplish this mission Chris has teamed up with several conservation groups in the US to lend his talents to help raise money and awareness to preserve the habitats that are in danger. Through donations of artwork in the past 20 years Chris has helped raise over 28 million dollars for conservation.

waldensbrushwithwildlife.com

Native Cincinnatian John A. Ruthven returned home after Naval service during WWII to attend the Cincinnati Art Academy. After a successful commercial art career, including designing the logo for Playdough, he began his own company Wildlife Internationale, Inc. in 1970 with his studio and gallery in Georgetown, Ohio.

Highlights of his accomplishments include the 1960-61 Federal Duck Stamp competition, 1st Artist of the Year print for Duck’s Unlimited, Eagles for three U.S. Presidents, Eagle to the Moon for the Neil Armstrong Aerospace Museum, and many private collections. Commission work and travel continue to provide a busy schedule for this naturalist, lecturer and artist who is also on the recovery team for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. John was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the National Endowment for the Arts presented in the White House. John is honored to have his new painting of Passenger Pigeons painted as a mural on a building in downtown Cincinnati during the spring and summer of 2013 by Artworks. His legacy continues well after his passing. He was a treasured member of our Masterworks alumni.

Ruthven.com

Debbie Lentz, former owner/operator of the successful Wombat Art Works Gallery in Waynesville, OH is now dedicating her artistic career to producing and promoting her own works of wildlife and nature subjects. Debbie's early experience as a volunteer for the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens helped to fuel her passion to create her realistic wildlife art, particularly her big cats.  Debbie is a Dayton based artist, graduating from the University of Cincinnati with her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.  She is dedicated, wholeheartedly to the preservation of wildlife as well as the habitats in which they live. Through her art work, Debbie has helped to raise money for such organizations as the Cincinnati Zoo, the Center for Endangered Wildlife, the Angel Fund, the Columbus Zoo, the Hamilton County Parks, Raptor Inc., the International Society of Endangered Cats, and the Fishing Cat Species Survival Program. She hopes that through her art she can inspire others to do what they can to protect the earth and all its inhabitants.

debbie@wildlifeexpressionsstudio.com

When Charley Harper (1922-2007) painted a bird, he didn't count all the feathers in the wings — he just counted the wings. He reduced his subject to the simplest possible visual terms without losing its identity. He described his style as “minimal realism.”  And he claimed to be the only wildlife artist in America who had never been compared to Audubon. Combining the skills and drafting tools of the architect with the aesthetic sense of the painter, he began to develop his distinctive style that aims to help us want to preserve the natural treasures that remain.  Charley’s paintings have appeared in nature-oriented magazines and on over 50 posters for conservation-minded organizations, among them the National Park Service, Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati Nature Center, Hamilton County (Ohio) Park District, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in Costa Rica, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. Charley produced two books of his prints and paintings, Charley Harper’s Birds & Words, and Beguiled by the Wild: The Art of Charley Harper. He also illustrated The Golden Book of Biology (1961) and The Animal Kingdom (1968).  Celebrity designer Todd Oldham produced two later books, Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life (2007) and Charley Harper's Animal Kingdom (2012).  Other works include ceramic tile murals for the Federal Building and Convention Center in Cincinnati and the Microbiology Building at Miami University in Ohio. He designed interpretive displays for Everglades National Park.  In his 60-year career, he created hundreds of  limited-edition silkscreen and giclee prints…as well as many lithograph open-edition prints.  Today, Harper's international reputation continues to grow larger through the licensing of his images on a wide range of products respectful of the artist's legacy.

Charlie Harper is now represented by his son Brett Harper, an amazing friend to our Masterworks for Nature group.

charleyharperprints.com

CharleyHarper.com

Gary Denzler’s interest in birds, particularly hawks, eagles, falcons and owls goes back as far as he can remember.  Since 1983, Gary has trained birds and directed the Great American Wings of Wonder show at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.  His art career began in 1979, first carving a Peregrine Falcon from a piece of white pine.  In 1988, Gary won Best in Category, Professional Class for Miniature Birds of Prey at the World Competition at Ocean City, MD.  That same year Gary began a 3-year project sculpting birds for the Ice Age at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  When the Zoological Society of Cincinnati established a conservation award recognizing individuals who have made an impact on preserving our natural world, Gary was selected to design it. He sculpted “Martha” the last passenger pigeon, to represent this annually presented award.  The list of recipients includes Roger Tory Peterson, Jane Goodall, Richard Leakey and Ted Turner.

gary.denzler@cincinnatizoo.org

“With nature and animal art, I try to look beyond the expected and do something a little off, a little grating perhaps, so the viewer becomes involved in the story. My animals live in the real world where horses get burrs in their manes and domestic cats are ferocious carnivores. There is much beauty to be found in a common batch of weeds.”

Margi Hopkins earned her BFA from Denison University and spent summers taking classes at The DeCordova Museum, The Boston Museum of Fine Art and the Massachusetts College of Art.

In 2001 she started Pepper Portraits while working as a veterinary assistant. Her devotion to wild and domestic animals, as well as their habitat, is evident in her paintings and the various causes to which she donates time and art.

Her subject matter is whatever allows her to explore composition, lighting and message. She has built a reputation for her story telling and unusual medium which includes solvents with colored pencil on a fabric surface.

Margi submits to at least three major juried exhibitions annually, winning many accolades and exhibits in galleries, universities and museums countrywide. Her work has graced the front cover of JAVMA twice and is published in art books such as North Light Books STROKES OF GENIUS. Of the many purchases made by collectors here and abroad, Margi is most proud that her original “Who Recued Whom” depicting an elderly gentleman with his newly adopted Jack Russel, was purchased by the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Library in honor of their rescue work.

Margi is a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America, a member of Masterworks for Nature and an Associate Member of The Society of Animal Artists.

pepperportraits.com

Chris Rowlands is a singer, songwriter, painter, puppeteer and Outreach Naturalist with Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, where he develops innovative and interdisciplinary environmental education programs for children.

Chris began his career as a naturalist in 1986 while enrolled in college with the National Audubon Expedition Institute. Within a few years, Chris became a nationally recognized performer, teaching children about nature through innovative outreach programs. A talented artist, Chris has also drawn animals in a variety of media his entire life and created wildlife illustrations for the Connecticut Wildlife Department. Chris has gone on to creatively blend his talents in music, art, comedy and education to create fast paced shows that teach and inspire young people. His programs include an ongoing series of artistic residences in which he works with students to create large scale murals involving natural subjects. The Environment Magazine honored Chris with its first E Award for his environmental education programs.

In his current capacity as Outreach Naturalist at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm near Dayton, Ohio, Chris brings his lessons about nature, art and conservation to more than 60,000 students, teachers and parents each year through public performances and in-school artistic residencies.

Click on link-scroll down to OUTREACH PROGRAMS to see more about Chris and his work at Aullwood.

Aullwood Audubon Center & Farm

A self-taught acrylic painter, Cincinnati native Kate Albert, has always had a great love of art and the outdoors. Both are evident in her unique interpretations of Cincinnati, its various venues and surrounding nature.

Kate’s professional career as an artist began when she completed her first major piece entitled “Cincinnati”, portraying the area’s unique landmarks nestled among the local hills and greenery. The painting was received with tremendous success. This positive experience became the motivation behind years of painting the local communities, parks and other greenspaces that make the Ohio River Valley such a unique and diverse place to live. Kate’s mission became clear: Through art, instill pride in the local communities and educate them of the importance of conservation, ensuring that they take care of their natural surroundings as well as each other.

In recent years, Kate has gained momentum receiving numerous awards, gallery shows and an ever expanding and diverse clientele. As her reputation grew, Kate saw an opportunity to better her community through her art by reaching a broader audience and affecting change at a local level – helping nature, helping small businesses and highlighting the importance of one person’s impact.

“Global change starts locally. Recycle or reuse everything you can and share information and materials with your neighbor. Creating more native landscaping in your own yard and less lawn, consuming goods that are responsibly made or grown, and avoiding or limiting use of chemicals in your yard are great ways to help your neighbor, yourself and the environment (neighbors including wild animals, plants and insects). These are all reasonable steps we as individuals can take to make an immediate impact. How does my work fit in? I believe if I can increase the perceived value of one's environment, one is more likely to respect it, care for it, and care for each other.”

Limited edition prints of Kate’s work may be purchased online, at Painted River Art Studio, and through shops of the places she depicts in her paintings, making her work mutually beneficial for non-profit organizations such as Cincinnati Nature Center, the Cincinnati Observatory, Great Parks of Hamilton County (Glenwood Gardens), Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, Cincinnati Reds Community Fund (Opening Day), and Krohn Conservatory. Kate is delighted to be able to share her work with you while helping support local conservation and preservation efforts of these local non-profit organizations.

Quite often, you will find Kate creating her unique works at Painted River Art Studio, in the heart of historic Milford, Ohio. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family in the outdoors, lending a helping hand around her community, or taking a hike at one of the many natural greenspaces around Cincinnati.

To learn more about Kate Albert’s available works, please visit www.KateAlbertArt.com.

Nancy McCarthy started her career in commercial art in 1975. After 10 years working in the advertising field, she was able to leave her job in pharmaceutical advertisement to follow her true passion, painting and photographing wildlife, vistas, and domestic animals. They have become the focus of Nancy's artistry.

The depth and clarity of her work have brought her regional and national acclaim. With a contemporary flair, she creates with a unique style that sets her work apart. "I'd like for the viewer to feel as though they have just experienced a beautiful, microcosmic moment in life. A majestic storm, an explosion of blossoms, an animal's gesture and expression, they all tell a story which evokes emotion on the viewer's part."

Perhaps you have seen Nancy's work exhibited in one of her many private and public shows. She has exhibited at wildlife shows, equine events, and in galleries from California to Massachusetts. Nancy now displays her work in her gallery McCarthy Art Studio at 209 Main Street, in Old Milford, Ohio. You may even catch her working on her latest creation there.

Email: nancy@nancy-mccarthy.com Phone: (513) 734-1345 Website: www.nancy-mccarthy.com

You may buy or view her paintings at her gallery or on her website.