November 28, 2018
What does a real African penguin patron do for Christmas? He commissions an artist to do a painting of his beloved penguins, he uses it on his personal Christmas cards and he then donates the original painting along with a number of the Christmas cards to the African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary to raise some much needed funds. Mike Gibbs, one of our most ardent supporters and a previous trustee of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, is a true penguin philanthropist.
A man as passionate as Mike about the protection of not only the African penguin but the greater environment had to find an artist that understood this mindset. Artist Malcolm Bowling shares Mike’s passion for the environment and has a special fondness for birds. According to Malcolm, he is not a fanatical “twitcher” but the attentive stillness required to capture the essence of a bird is for him akin to mindfulness – one of the buzzwords of our time. “I think the world would be a better place if more people would take more time to observe, to listen to experience. There is a dichotomy of peace and revitalisation when one is enjoying Nature. It has driven my soul and, therefore, my art and photography” says Malcolm.
“The Re-introduction March” depicts three adult African penguins sensing the call of the blue upon their release after rehabilitation.
The original drawing will be up for silent auction at the African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary during December 2018.
