TIFTON —
Three exceptional Georgia artists will be featured in a new wildlife art exhibit beginning Oct. 13 at the Gallery of the Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
Featured artists for the exhibit are Ronald Goodman from Fitzgerald, Evelyn Mercer from Hahira, and Thomas Bland from Reidsville. Each of the three artists will showcase pieces in a different medium.
GMA Gallery Coordinator Polly Huff said the unique gathering of photographs, paintings, and large sculptures all pay tribute to Georgia’s native wildlife and its conservation. The exhibit will open at 10 a.m. on Oct. 13 as a part of the Museum’s Critter Saturday event.
Visitors attending the exhibit on opening day will get a glimpse into the creative process of the artists during a live demonstration at 1 p.m. in the Gallery. Many of the pieces on display will be available for sale.
An educational booklet featuring the artists and spotlighting their favorite wildlife species will be available to the public courtesy of the Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Tifton, who are partnering with the Museum to present the exhibit. The two sponsoring organizations also made it possible for the Gallery to purchase and install professional display panels for this exhibit.
Goodman’s art provides glimpses into the beauty and behaviors of wildlife species found in southern Georgia. He is one of America's premier wildlife artists specializing in painting animals, rural scenes, and landscapes. The mediums vary, ranging from acrylics and oils to pen and ink and colored and graphite pencils.
Goodman’s life changed dramatically on July 4, 1985, when he dove into a shallow part of the Ocmulgee River, injuring his spinal cord and leaving him incapable of using either his hands or his legs. Although his life was permanently altered in that moment, he stood firm in his desire to train for a career that would allow him to spend time surrounded by nature. Upon his return from rehabilitation therapy, he completed studies in art at ABAC.
Goodman works from his studio located in a wooded area of his family's farm. He travels across Georgia teaching school children about wildlife and art through active workshops and sharing his passion for conservation. His works have been used by a number of charitable organizations for fundraising, including the National Wild Turkey Federation, Wheelin' Sportsmen and Ducks Unlimited. His drawings and paintings have been shown in a variety of notable museums, galleries, and wildlife conservation agencies.
Mercer is a fifth generation Floridian born and raised in Miami. She was introduced to the Everglades during the 1970s and thus began a love for wildlife and photography. She is a self-taught photographer who has traveled extensively throughout the United States expanding and promoting her work of scenery and wildlife.
Since her move to South Georgia in the late 1980s, Mercer’s focus has been on Georgia archival photography along with wolf projects, primarily with Mission Wolf located in Colorado and the Red Wolf Coalition located in North Carolina.
Mercer’s work has been published in the International Wolf Center Magazine in Minnesota and in the Conservation Trust Magazine in England. Her photographs have been a part of juried art shows and collections across the Southeast. The Wild at Heart exhibit will feature highlights of Mercer’s Red Wolf photography, as well as her work highlighting various types of wildlife in Georgia.
Bland has been a Georgia resident all his life. A forester by training, this 1987 ABAC alumnus has a lifelong affiliation with the outdoors, living and working on a timber farm. In 2004 the Bland family took a trip to the mountains of North Carolina and purchased a chainsaw carved bear. As soon as they made it home from their trip, the bear was set in the back yard as a model, and Bland began his first chainsaw carving. Having spent his whole life sizing up logs and lumber, he was now seeing trees through creative and imaginative lenses.
More than a thousand carved pieces later, Bland is a well-known Georgia carver, making appearances as a demonstrator at many events and carving competitions. The works of Bland have been displayed in six states, and he is the founder of the Chainsaw Carving Competition which takes place every October in Lyons.
Fish being his favorite subject to carve, Bland enjoys the challenge of portraying a subject that is constantly moving, even in its sleep. Visitors to the Wild at Heart exhibit will have the opportunity to view many of the chainsaw carvings of Bland, all of them portraying native Georgia wildlife species, and all of them carved from native Georgia trees.
The exhibit will remain on display through Jan. 13, 2013. For questions, interested persons can contact Huff at (229) 391-5222 or phuff@abac.edu.
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Thomas Bland works on a chainsaw carving. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
October 9, 2012
Wild at Heart: Wildlife art exhibit to open Oct. 13
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