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Artist hopes to draw attention to plight of elephants |
| By
Vicki L. Kroll |
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Jul 24, 2008
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| Elyse Osborne worked on a drawing of Renee and Louie, elephants at the Toledo Zoo. |
Elyse Osborne has always loved elephants.
“They are so strangely beautiful,” she said. “Elephants are these magnificent creatures that I became so inspired by and read so much about because they are so much like humans — just the way their familial bonds are and their empathetic relationships toward one another — I think it just really struck a chord with me.”
The 2008 UT graduate was inspired — big time.
"For my bachelor of fine arts show, I had four life-size drawings of elephants. I worked on roll paper that I tacked up to the wall in my studio space, and then I got up on ladders to work on them. The drawings are about six feet wide by nine feet tall. There were four of these scaled elephants in the main gallery at the Center for the Visual Arts Center," Osborne said. "Being in the presence of an elephant is a reverent experience because of their size. So when I had these drawings up in the gallery, people were stunned — it was like having an elephant in the room."
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| "Probing Eyes Keep Searching"
by Elyse Osborne |
Researching her subjects was fun. Osborne went to the Toledo Zoo.
“They have two great elephants there, Renee and Louie, and I did speak with Don Redfox, the elephant trainer. He let me touch the elephant’s skin and get really up-close to see their beautiful, amber-colored eyes, and oh my gosh, their eyelashes are like four inches long,” she said.
“I really focused on their eyes in my artwork. For me, their eyes are so expressive,” Osborne said. “People have commented when they look at my work, ‘Those eyes just pierce the soul.’”
She hopes her art will call attention to elephants and their uncertain future.
“In a world that is shrinking faster than imagined, there seems to be no room for the elephant,” Osborne said. “Despite their size and their strength, I’m struck by how fragile they really are because they don’t have control over what is happening to them; we’re controlling that as humans. The fact that we may be without them motivates me to capture their essence.”
That motivation led Osborne to share her work through a presentation, “The Plight of the Elephant,” which was accepted for the National Conference for Undergraduate Research at Salisbury University. She and 18 UT students traveled to Salisbury, Md., last spring to discuss research projects.
"I am so inspired by the individuals who have dedicated their lives to the research and conservation of the elephant," she said. "I want people to become aware of how magnificent these animals really are. I hope my work will inspire people to take a second look because in our fast-paced lives, we take so much for granted."
Osborne is one of 115 artists selected for UT’s 16th annual Art on the Mall, which will take place Sunday, July 27, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Centennial Mall on Main Campus.
"My artwork is going to continue on the theme of the elephant; I am working on a much smaller scale, 23-inch by 30-inch pieces, that are portraits of elephants, using a variety of pastels and conté crayon. Drawing and its immediacy have allowed me to be very expressive through my marks. It is very important in my artwork to capture the gesture of my subject.
"I'm also going to have some elephant screen prints — the classic-looking screen-printed photos, which will be of Renee and Louie — with overlay screen prints of sketches I made of them at the zoo," she said.
This will be Osborne’s first juried art fair.
"I'm really excited, and I'm a little nervous," she said. "But for me, I think it's more about the experience. I'm thrilled that I got accepted and will be able to get my work out there for the public to see, and hopefully even make some sales."
Osborne, who recently received a scholarship award from the Athena Art Society, plans to apply for graduate school and possibly pursue illustration.
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