On March 28, 2007, UK artist Pollyanna Pickering and her daughter/manager Anna-Louise Pickering departed for Bhutan sketch and paint the rare flora and fauna of this largely undisturbed region of the Himalayas.
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Pollyanna PickeringHonMUniv NDD AFC SOFA Painter of the Living World
Conservation weekend raises over $8 000 for cheetah relocation
Pollyanna recently opened her gallery for a special weekend in support of cheetah conservation. Vanessa Bezuidenhout (left) director of the De Wildt Cheetah and Conservation Trust flew over from South Africa for the event and was present in the gallery throughout to chat to visitors about her work with these beautiful cats. Pollyanna and Vanessa were jointly interviewed live from the conservation weekend on BBC Radio.
Pollyanna acts as UK ambassador for the trust's relocation program which rescues cheetahs from farmland where they would be shot, and relocates them in safe areas.
Earlier that week, Vanessa was a special guest at Pollyanna's talk 'Land of the Thunder Dragon' and gave a fascinating short presentation about her work with cheetahs prior to Pollyanna's talk about her expedition into Bhutan.
A selection of recent paintings inspired by Pollyanna's visit to the centre were exhibited for the first time, and three new limited edition prints were unveiled, alongside the Pollyanna Pickering Foundation's new cheetah adoption programme. We are delighted to say that twenty cheetahs were adopted on the first weekend, which alongside donations and a percentage from sales of paintings raised $4050.00 for the cheetah relocation programme. The weekend also helped to secure additional sponsorship for a Vectronix telemetry collar valued at $4,300.00. The trust also received offers of work from volunteers.
Jeff Shaw, a representative of the Wildlife Art Society International attended the event to photograph the exhibition for the Society's newsletter, and has volunteered to hold a second cheetah conservation event in The Heron Gallery in Bristol, headquarters of the society. Further details will be announced when available.
