2007 FLYWAY JOURNEYS WILDLIFE ART CAMP TOOK FLIGHT

“I loved every bit of the sketching, painting, and decoy carving.  When we went on the nature walk, it gave me a chance to really see what wetlands are like.” 
- Sara Hottinger

Eleven high school students from across California arrived at the beautiful Sunrise Farms Duck Club in Lambertville on a drizzly Friday in December.  There they started a three day adventure in wildlife art as CWA’s fourth Flyway Journeys Wildlife Art Camp commenced.  

CWA Life Benefactors Allen and Donna Thomas graciously hosted the students and CWA volunteers.  The majority of camp activities were hosted by biologists and staff at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex (NWRC) and presented by the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association (PFDA). The efforts of the PFDA volunteers were made possible by a generous grant from the International Wildfowl Carvers Association as part of their efforts to promote the development of wildlife art through their youth program.

The picturesque refuge provided all the motivation needed for hands-on wetland and waterfowl study as well as inspiration for wildlife art.  The students gained a variety of knowledge through sessions such as “Why Wildlife Art?” with CWA President Bob McLandress; a Photoshop primer withCWA’s ErikBergren; and “Wetlands 101” with Sacramento NWR’s Denise Dachner, Jennifer Stockton, and Naomi Baucom. 

Filled with ideas and inspired to learn more about how their art work can help wildlife, the students were excited to take photographs of the thousands of waterfowl on the auto tour loop and learn about photo composition from Sacramento NWR’s and PFDA’s Mike Peters during the wildlife photography session.  These sessions only made the students more eager to participate in field sketching and painting presented by PFDA’s Mike Nesbit; wood carving with PFDA’s Jim Burcio, Chet Wilcox, and Bob Solari; and finding art in nature with CWA member and Women’s Outdoor Connections (WOC) member Susan Helms.  To add to the excitement, Allen Thomas tied together concepts of duck stamps, hunting, and duck processing (using paraffin to remove feathers, then preparing ducks for a delicious dinner) to demonstrate the importance of hunters as conservationalists and wildlife art supporters.

Students had the opportunity to bond in the evenings during personal artwork presentations.  With a better idea of each student’s artistic talent, CWA will help each student fulfill a follow-up visual arts project as part of the requirement for participating in the Flyway Journeys Wildlife Art Camp. The goal of the follow-up project is to encourage artistic growth and community awareness about wetlands and waterfowl. Student projects in the works include drawings for our youth magazine, Sprig Tales, “clip art” for CWA’s publication database, and Junior Duck Stamp classroom presentations.

I learned so much about the hunting culture.  It was truly a great experience.” 
- Li Chen

If you are an educator and know of a student who might be interested in attending the 2008 art camp, or if you would like to sponsor or donate next year, please contact CWA at (916) 648-1406 or jennifer_tolman@calwaterfowl.org.