How buying art can help you make a mark on conservation

Artist turned conservationist, the late David Shepherd, worked tirelessly to protect the wildlife he felt he owed for his success as an artist, and his legacy lives on through his eponymous foundation. By buying art through his foundation, you can contribute to the multi-million dollars in grants going to key conservation projects.

In 1960 while in his late 20s, the RAF flew Brit David Shepherd, who was then an aviation artist, to Kenya, where he was commissioned for his first wildlife painting – a rhino on a runway.

It changed the course of his life. While in Tanzania around this time, he encountered 255 dead zebras at a poisoned waterhole, and at that moment he became a conservationist.

The late David Shepherd spent his life trying to protect the wildlife he painted, turning from an artist to a conservationist. — The late David Shepherd, who spent his life trying to protect the wildlife he painted

The fight for wildlife

In the ’80s, David set up the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF), using his artworks to raise awareness and funds for conservation efforts across Africa and Asia.

In 2008, DSWF founded Wildlife Artist of the Year, an annual world-renowned competition and exhibition, which has become a significant event on the arts calendar.

To date, through David’s tireless efforts and with the support of leading international artists, the Foundation has given away close to $19.5 million in grants for key conservation projects in these regions.

Max Bannister’s bronze sculpture of three elephants — New Zealand-based South African artist Simon Max Bannister’s bronze elephant sculpture is on sale for the Foundation’s conservation efforts

A family legacy

Shepherd continued to paint, and fight for conservation, until his death in 2017; now his family has taken the baton, continuing his legacy.

David’s daughter, Mandy Shepherd and his granddaughter, Emily Lamb, are both professional wildlife artists and DSWF Art Ambassadors, who use their artworks to create awareness and raise funds for conservation. Original artworks and prints of Shepherd’s also remain on sale today.

Art partnerships

The Foundation attributes much of its success to its partnerships with leading artists around the world, including South African-born Simon Max Bannister, who now lives in New Zealand. Simon’s bronze sculpture of three elephants (above) represents tusked symbols of wisdom, patience and resilience.

He says: “Since I became aware of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, I have found a way to give directly back to the very animals that inspire me… through the foundation my work can now embody a story of survival in the face of man’s ills. These endangered creatures are in our hands, in our art, in our historical being. How could we, in our time, not do whatever we can to help them?”

It’s a sentiment that rings true for not only those who work for the Foundation, but the conservation-minded among us who purchase the artworks.