Edition 44: Autumn 2008

The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation recently welcomed art lovers at the Mall Galleries in London for an exhibition and auction of the top works shortlisted for the inaugural DSWF Wildlife Artist of the Year award. These selected entries ran alongside original works by three generations of the Shepherd family.

Through the sale of paintings at the auction immediately following the exhibition, £75,000 was raised to help the DSWF continue to help protect endangered wildlife across the globe.

“I feel immensely proud of the success of our first ever Wildlife Artist of the Year Competition,” said David Shepherd, the founder of the DSWF. “It is so rewarding that we have not only offered a platform to so many artists from around the world to showcase their work but through their generosity it has raised significant funds to save critically endangered wildlife and helped spread awareness of the desperate plight of wildlife. Together, we are fulfilling the art of conservation and are making a real difference.”

Alan Titchmarsh and David Gower were also on hand to help David hand out the prizes. The overall winner, taking home £10,000 and the title of the Wildlife Artist of the Year 2008, was Richard Childs of Great Britain, for his painting The Hope of Sepilok. This work was also the winner of the Endangered Wildlife category. The overall runner-up was Dafila Scott for her Gemsbok at Evening painting, which took home the Abstract category prize. David Filer of Zimbabwe won the Wildlife in Action category with a stunning zebra scene titled Furious Stripes. Barry Sutton won the Wildlife in 3D category with his Running Warthog statue, while Darren Rees won the Wild Places category with Ice, Bear, Moraine.

Entries for Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009 are now being accepted.

Visit www.wildlifeartistoftheyear.org for entry details.