ENDANGERED: Art4Apes is delighted to announce that Amy Perlman is our May 2022 Photography Virtual Artist in Residence

Congratulations to Amy Perlman for becoming our May 2022 Photography Virtual Artist in Residence. The Virtual Artist in Residence Program is awarded monthly to the artist (or photographer) who has submitted 3 or more entries to the ENDANGERED Fine Art & Photography Contest and has been selected by the Curatorial Committee as best interpreting the aims of the Contest.

Amy Perlman is an award-winning wildlife, landscape, and travel photographer. Her photographs have been published by the National Wildlife Federation, Journal of Wildlife Photography, Natural Habitat Adventures, and Endangered: Art4Apes. Her work was included in the 2019 National Wildlife Federation exhibit entitled Nature’s Witness at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC.

Artist Background

Amy Perlman is a Chicago-based photographer. For the past several years she has concentrated on photographing threatened wildlife and habitat with a goal toward emphasizing the urgent need for conservation. Her interest in art and nature began at a young age with the encouragement of her father, a commercial artist, and painter. Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, she and her dad often trekked into the forest preserve near their home with easels to find subjects to draw and paint while he taught her about composition and light. She was introduced to the art of photography when she was given an old 35 mm camera in grammar school with a rudimentary explanation of the purpose of each dial and scribbled cheat sheet taped to the inside of the worn leather case that read in part: “f11 for sunny and F5.6 for shady”.

Amy Perlman © 2022 Amy Perlman. All Rights Reserved.

Although she has been a practicing attorney for almost 40 years, art, nature, and adventure travel have always been a passion. A safari to East Africa inspired her interest in more formally studying photography and conservation issues unique to wildlife in different parts of the world. Through her photography, Amy tries to capture the beauty of nature and the unique and fascinating behavior of animals. The Art4Apes competition has been an excellent vehicle to further draw attention to endangered species, vanishing habitat, and the critical importance of protecting our environment for ourselves and future generations.

Upcoming Work

When the Antarctic summer begins this November, Amy will travel to the Antarctic region to photograph the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Shetland Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Weddell Sea, if weather permits. Photographs will be posted to her website http://www.amyperlmanphotography.com and to Instagram @amyperlmanphotography

Artist Message

There has never been a more important time to emphasize the beauty and fragility of nature. The latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the world, as we know it, is on the precipice. As artists and nature photographers, we can bring parts of our natural world to those who may not have the opportunity to see and appreciate it for themselves. We can remind our viewers that failure to solve conservation and environmental issues in places we may not see in person or read about every day will impact us all.

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” - John Muir

As this month’s Virtual Photographic Artist in Residence, I wanted to share a few images of wildlife in three locations that are under enormous threat: Salmon and brown bears in the Katmai region of Alaska; polar bears at the edge of the Arctic Circle in Alaska and walrus in the High Arctic near the Norwegian Archipelago of Svalbard.

See more of Amy’s work by clicking on the link below:

Instagram: @amyperlmanphotography

Website: http://www.amyperlmanphotography.com

ENDANGERED: Fine Art & Photography Contest 2021 Submissions

Sitting in the Rain. Photograph © 2021 Amy Perlman. All Rights Reserved.

Gone Fishing. Photograph © 2021 Amy Perlman. All Rights Reserved.

The Meeting. Photograph © 2021 Amy Perlman. All Rights Reserved.

See more of Amy’s work below:

Katmai, Alaska © 2021 Amy Perlman. All Rights Reserved.

The Bristol Bay Alaska watershed is the location of the world’s largest natural wild salmon run. It has sustained Alaska’s indigenous communities for thousands of years and supplies the world with half of its sockeye salmon.

Bristol Bay salmon support a strong and sustainable economy including commercial, sport and subsistence fishing. This results in 15,000 American jobs, and over two billion dollars annually to Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and other areas throughout the US.

The salmon play an essential part in the ecosystem that supports wildlife such as sea otters, walruses, beluga, and killer whales, endangered north pacific right whales, eagles and one of the largest concentrations of brown bear in the world.

Over the last several years, a massive proposed open pit gold and copper mine known as “Pebble Mine” threatened to decimate the Bristol Bay watershed including thousands of acres of wetlands, over a hundred miles of salmon streams, 130 acres of open water and huge critical areas of wildlife habitat.

Permits for the proposed 2,000-foot-deep mine and infrastructure of roads, power plant, gas pipeline, dammed ponds for the toxic tailings and dredging for a port have been in litigation for some time. Significantly, the current administration has taken important steps to secure the permanent protection of the Bristol Bay watershed, a natural and irreplaceable national treasure.

Kaktovic, Alaska © 2021 Amy Perlman. All Rights Reserved.

Polar Bears rely on arctic sea ice as hunting platforms and breeding grounds. Throughout the Arctic, vital sea ice is receding or vanishing because of climate change. As a result, polar bears are spending more time on land looking for food close to the small Alaskan native village of Kaktovic.

On the coast of the Beaufort Sea, the bears often gravitate to a pile of whalebones to scavenge the remains after the legal subsistence harvesting of a limited number of bowhead whales by the Inupiaq hunters of Kaktovic. Scavenging the whale remains provides the bears a small amount of essential nutrition when the sea ice is too far out to access.

If sea ice continues to recede or vanish, polar bears’ future is in great peril.

Svalbard, High Arctic © 2021 Amy Perlman. All Rights Reserved.

These images were taken from a zodiac in the High Arctic near the Norwegian Archipelago of Svalbard. The bright blue iceberg full of walrus was floating alone against a darker greyish blue sky. As the herd began diving off the iceberg in all directions, this mom and calf remained.

She appeared to be coaxing her calf into the water. This series of photos captures the herd, the remaining mom and calf, and the calf’s eventual plunge into the water as the protective mom looked down after. Walruses rely on sea ice for resting, feeding and as birthplace.

This scene reminded me of the strong bond between walrus mother and calf and the extreme danger that they and many other species face as our planet warms and the sea ice continues to recede.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR VAiR PROGRAM

The Virtual Artist in Residence Program is awarded monthly to the artist and photographer who have submitted 3 or more entries to the ENDANGERED Fine Art & Photography Contest and have been selected by the Curatorial Committee as best interpreting the aims of the Contest.

Questions? Lindsey@Art4Apes.com