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Several awards honoring individuals for artistic merit and contribution to the advancement of the conservation agenda were presented as part of the opening reception weekend.

The following awards were presented at The Art of Conservation 2008 opening weekend awards dinner:

  • The AFC’s Simon Combes Conservation Award honoring an artist member who, through his/her artistic talent has made an extraordinary contribution to the conservation cause.
  • The Hiram Blauvelt Purchase Award, to at least one available artwork in the show. The winning work(s) will become part of the HBAM art collection.
  • Five AFC Awards of Excellence based on the artwork selected for the exhibition and chosen by the independent jury.

A three-part video stream is now available for viewing. Click on the screens below to watch...

The evening of Saturday, September 27th, was a night for which many artists travelled great distances. 135 guests (including artists) were present for the evening celebration, exceeding any previous dinner attendance at the Museum. To accommodate the number a new sound system installed. The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum hosted a top-notch VIP cocktail reception, three course dinner and awards ceremony for exhibiting artists, special patron guests, and WCS, Museum and AFC representatives. Guests were welcomed by the Museum’s Executive Director, Marijane Singer.

AFC President, Jeff Whiting, as Master of Ceremonies, echoed Mrs. Singer's welcome and spoke in brief about the show, the “triangular” partnership in the creation of the show as well as the AFC and its programs, beginning with a special unscheduled “thank you” presentation of copies of the show companion book in custom handmade display cases bearing the AFC butterfly insignia to the Blauvelt Museum and WCS.

Blauvelt Museum Purchase Award
The winning artwork of this award is purchased by the Blauvelt Museum and becomes part of its permanent collection. Chairman of the Blauvelt Art Museum, James Bellis Sr., spoke briefly about the Museum and presented the Blauvelt purchase award to Dale Weiler for his marble sculpture of a Polar Bear, titled 'Nowhere To Go'.

AFC Medals of Excellence
Five AFC artists were presented with the very first set of AFC 'Medals of Excellence', for their artworks in the show – the show jury reconvened at the Museum in late August to select the 5 awards. The five award-winners, in alphabetical order were Eric Berg for his life-sized sculpture titled 'Japanese Giant Salamander', Derek Bond for his egg tempera painting titled 'Little Snowy Plover', Jay Johnson for his oil painting titled 'Sun Glows on the Land', Alison Nicholls for her watercolor titled 'Sable Drinking', and Linda Rossin for her acrylic painting 'Silhouettes Along the Shore'. Each award recipient of the Medal of Excellence received a pewter medal, mounted in a custom velvet-backed wood and Lucite frame displaying a silver plate bearing a description of the award and the name of the recipient. Accompanying each award was a special award certificate, with border specially designed by AFC artist Aleta Karstad.

Simon Combes Conservation Award
Robert Bateman - Winner of the 2008 Simon Combes AwardThe top award of the evening was the Simon Combes Conservation Award – the AFC's top honor – given to an artist member who has shown extraordinary support for the conservation cause through his or her art.

This year's recipient was world-renowned artist Robert Bateman of Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada. Mr. Bateman, accompanied by his wife, Birgit, was presented with a certificate and a special bronze sculpture trophy, designed by AFC artist Peter Gray of South Africa.

Mr. Bateman addressed the audience with an inspirational speech about a societal role in conservation.

Mr. Bateman took the opportunity to reflect on what he termed his two major activities these days – 'painting and ranting'. Well, his ranting was in fact an impassioned plea that society 'pay attention' and 'be prepared to pay a little more to save paying a lot more later'. Like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand (they do not really put their head in the sand) people are not being informed. Scientists are being muzzled by politicians and interest groups, while nature pays the price.

What is particularly alarming to him is that journalists are not taking these people to task for hiding the bad news. He referred to his painting called 'Drift Net' as one of his most important paintings as it attempted to draw attention to the horrific slaughter of fish, birds and mammals by the fishing methods of today even though there are better alternatives.

Mr. Bateman concluded his talk by emphasizing there is no free lunch for society and it is certainly worth paying a bit more now to save nature than to pay a much higher price later.

2008 Award Winners from The Art of Conservation Exhibition

Pictured from left-to-right, upper-to-lower: Derek Bond; Dale Weiler; Alison Nicholls; Eric Berg; Jay Johnson; Linda Rossin. All photos by Charles Alexander - AFC Artist and volunteer photographer.

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