Art and the Animal
by the Society of Animal Artists

Major Support Provided by Carolina Girimonte In Memory of Nick L & Claudia Girimonte

December 16, 2022

Julia Cronin, Curator of Collections & Exhibits

The Society of Animal Artists chose Turtle Bay as the premier venue for its 62nd annual Art and the Animal exhibition. The Society emerged in the late 1950s after individuals from the New York metropolitan area who liked to meet and paint at the Bronx Zoo together staged Animals in Bronx Zoo at the Burr Gallery in 1958. The New York Zoological Society sponsored the show. Patricia Allen Bott and Guido Borghi were inspired to form the organization after an enthusiastic reception to this exhibition. The fledgling Society soon became a member of the renowned Salmagundi Club. Early exhibitions were held in galleries such as Sportsman’s Edge, Grand Central Art Galleries, and the Alder Gallery - all in New York City. 

Today, the Society’s membership is a Who’s Who of international animal artists. Capturing wild and domestic creatures, great and small, on land, sea, and air, in a wide range of media and artistic expression, SAA artists continually pursue excellence and broaden their appreciation for subjects of the natural world as Fine Art.

Since 1960, the Society has produced and hosted an annual exhibition. The first museum venue was the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1981. In 1990, the Society curated its first Art and the Animal touring exhibition under the direction of David J. Wagner. The Society has exhibited throughout the United States. Art museums or general museums that include art as an integral dimension of their core mission make up approximately 70% of the venues. Over the years, more than 100 different institutions across the United States, Canada, and England have hosted SAA exhibitions. 

We are very excited to be selected as the premier venue. With our interdisciplinary approach and adjacent hotel, this is a logical place to host an exhibition at the intersection of Fine Art and Natural Science. This year’s subjects range from the domestic to the exotic. During the exhibition, guests can see an artistic representation of a bobcat and then see Whisper in person. Black vultures, like our Ned, and a barred owl, like Chef, are featured alongside zebra, orangutan, lions, spiders, and more. One of this year’s featured artists, Claire Duncan, was in our 2021 West Coast Biennial; small world!

This exhibition is so large it is in our Fitzpatrick Exploration Hall. Unlike the touring venues to follow, Turtle Bay is exhibiting all 125 pieces selected by the voting members of the Society from hundreds of artworks submitted by its members. Half the exhibition left Turtle Bay for the tour in late October, and the remainder is on exhibit through the end of December 2022.

To learn more about the Society of Animal Artists, visit their website, societyofanimalartists.com.