I don’t know if you have noticed but, Zoos are having a moment right now. Wild animals have always been a source of inspiration, awe, terror, and delight. Living in the golden age of on line streaming, we have an abundance of choices for watching documentaries, films, tv shows all about wild animals. Living in our own version of captivity, with our shelter in place lifestyle, we are all needing a bit of wild nature. I grew up watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, and my parents subscribed to National Geographic. We are a family that is fascinated by animals. Jane Goodall’s portrait hangs in my parents house. She represents a kind patron saint of what a passionate life’s work can do to protect and educate the masses on animals.
Now zoos and sanctuaries are letting us zoom with any animal from the outrageously popular Llamas, to chickens goats, cows, and various zoos animals. Being a conceptual zoo it seemed only natural to explore this experience. I tried in vain to book a time with any number of places but all animals were booked, BOOKED! As in weeks in advance, nothing really available for the month of May. So I dug deep and dove head first in to trying to find any animal that would be available to be a live model for my animal mask making movement. As luck would have it, my favorite animal of the moment, Fiona, the three year old hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo was and is available to book. Mind blown! It is a win win situation, I get to show support for a zoo, have a live feed of an incredible muse, and I get to share this experience with my class. My hope is we can get as many people to join as possible. Join us and let us make a parade of hippos!
P.S This is painting from my parents home of Jane. It was a birthday gift I made one year.
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”