| CAROLINE SCHULTZ ( - 2004) About the Artist
Schultz has served for three years on the board of directors of the La Jolla Art Association, which was founded in 1919 by Ellen Scripps. She has been Art Director of the East African Wild Life Society, Southern chapter, and is now United States Art Director of the East African Wild Life Society. Her work is on a volunteer basis and she devotes many hours to further conservation. Her fascination with Africa began in her early childhood. She painted animals then and although through the years she studied and worked at every other facet of art, non-objective, landscape, still-life, seascape and portrait paintings, she came full circle, back to her first and favorite subject, jungle animals. When Schultz began to paint exotic animals, she brought to her work the modern art background and experiences she had accumulated throughout the years. She created a style that is so unique, it has created a stir in the art world. The success of her technique can best be attributed to her talent and complete understanding and love of her subjects. She has a special empathy for the mother animals and their young. "As a woman and mother, I deeply understand the God-given instinct and oneness of creation and nature." Certainly Schultz didn't have to go to Africa to paint wild animals. She had already learned the bone structures and obvious techniques and she could view wild animals at the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park. She actually did spend many hours at both places studying the animal's movements. Why then did she want to go on safari in Africa?
The second safari Schultz went on was in East Africa with a group of fifteen people. "When you get involved in conservation in Africa you realize that people must be educated as to the importance of preserving wild life. Animals are driven from their hunting grounds and killed for either nuisance or skins; not to provide food for the hungry. The occasional trophy-head sought by the big-game hunter is not the real problem in Africa. "I've found that the big game hunter, after he learns about the animals, usually stops killing them and becomes a conserva- tionist." Schultz' third trip to Africa was her most exciting visit. Arrangements were made for her to go to Secret Valley nestled on Mt. Kenya, the only place in the world where leopards come regularly to feed in full view of people. "It is difficult to explain what being able to observe all of these animals means to me, not only as an artist but as a person," Schultz said. "I want to make another trip to Africa and on the next safari I would like to go alone. I have grown so much from these ventures, and I feel I have become a part of the fight to help keep the animals in Africa alive and part of the culture which should be preserved."
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