Artist for AWF Featured in Solo Show

For a few months, supporters of the world's endangered mountain gorillas can catch sight of a charging silverback at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The gorilla is the work of internationally known sculptor and friend of the African Wildlife Foundation, Bart Walter, who started out as a biologist and sculpted his first primates out of bronze with a commission from Jane Goodall.

The silverback sculpture, cast in bronze, is emblematic of the special status these primates hold in the wild. The dominant male, named for the silvery gray hairs that grow as a male matures, leads and protects the mountain gorilla family it dwells among. The artist says he created the sculpture after encountering a silverback while hiking in Rwanda.

The exhibit, entitled "Eye Toward Africa: The Art of Bart Walter," also features life-sized sculptures of other African wildlife, including an ostrich, two lionesses, a pair of grooming cheetahs, and a family of chimpanzees.

AWF's own Craig Sholley, senior director of development, was on hand to introduce Bart at the exhibit's opening earlier this month. "I was thrilled to work again with Bart, whose achievements AWF has long admired," he says.

A few years ago, AWF installed a life-size mountain gorilla sculpture by Walter at the Uganda Wildlife Authority Headquarters in Kampala, Uganda. The statue commemorates the Ugandan people's impressive commitment to gorilla conservation.

Walter's technique often highlights the connection between people's emotions and the wildlife he depicts, with the aim of helping people connect to all kinds of animals. "No one is going to think that conservation is worthwhile unless they feel a connection," he said in a recent interview.

"Eye Toward Africa" will be exhibited at the National Museum of Wildlife Art through June 19.