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Local
talent benefits
Wildlife Center Carol
Lee Working with wildlife over the years has given me the privilege of meeting scores of amazing, creative, interesting and talented individuals. Rachel Lewis, a senior at Texas Tech, is one of those individuals. A Production Artist at The Price Group in Lubbock, Rachel recently designed a new brochure for the Wildlife Center. After an initial meeting, Rachel created a colorful, eye-catching and informative design. Rachel said her passions are "conceptual development and typography." She grew up in New Mexico and Texas, and followed a long-standing family tradition to attend Texas Tech. She said, "After changing majors a couple of times, I finally found my passion: Graphic Design. I attribute my love of art to my grandmother, Dee O'Donnell. Since I was a child, I would visit grandma's house and we'd spend hours on the back porch painting ceramics. These are my favorite memories and serve as my artistic inspiration." Since she's been in Lubbock, Rachel's been a full time student with part time employment. She started her design internship with The Price Group in May, 2007. Since December, she's their full time production artist. She's finishing her last two classes and graduates in May this year with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication design. Our second meeting was at their downtown office where we also met Mike Meister, Vice President and Executive Art Director at Price. It was suggested we stop by the conference room to see Mike's paintings, and what I saw there were three framed, limited edition bird prints. It was one of those "Wow" moments - all three were breathtakingly beautiful in vivid colors and in lifelike detail. I was intrigued, and wanted to know more about this very talented, but modest, man. He said he liked drawing birds in grade school, and ultimately decided to paint something on a large four-by-six foot scale of a small, colorful bird. He first painted a Great Titmouse, followed by an American Goldfinch, Painted Bunting, Green Jay, Eastern Bluebird, Baltimore Oriole, Lilac Breasted Roller and a male cardinal, the last in the series. Working in acrylic, Mike starts with a black canvas and builds up layers from dark to light, giving him the color values he wants. "I work on a black canvas because I prefer the depth it gives to the image." He uses "a combination of found and my own photography: I create a composite image on my computer, usually pulling together several birds and background elements, print that file and then use it as a visual reference. It would be difficult for me to go on location to shoot some of these birds, as my painting of the Roller is an African species." He said, "My next painting is of an Amazon frog. I chose it because I've always loved how much personality those little critters seem to have--and how colorful they are--but also because I believe their plight as a species represents ours in the long term."
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The
originals are large, not framed, but are on gallery-depth canvases
so are ready to hang. Prints are available on paper or canvas
(although not yet through his website. Contact Mike at mike@designsbymeister.com).
If anyone is interested in a print, they can email Mike and he'll
send them a price list, or call him at 763-5033. "I plan
to show some of my work in May's First Friday Art Tour at the
Downtown Underground Gallery. Here's a website for general information,
although his work may not be listed until next month," Mike
added. Rachel
thanks us for the privilege of working with us, but it's us who
are thanking her and Mike for donating their time, work and talent
to develop our beautiful new brochures. There's also a talented Wildlife Center volunteer in our midst: Tate Marshall. Originally from East Texas, Tate moved here from Austin. He admits he attended college sporadically, but never took it seriously until he decided to get a BA in painting from Texas Tech. Tate is a self-taught artist, but was drawing since he was a preschooler. Several years ago, a friend asked him to draw her parents as a gift to them for their anniversary. They were thrilled with the results, and Tate says that sent him on a completely different path. Every job he ever had was completely unrelated to the art field, and he thinks maybe he never took it seriously. Ultimately he decided to focus more on commissioned artwork, cut his work hours, and forced himself to spend more time drawing. Hurricane Rita really tore his hometown of Orange, Texas to shreds in 2005, and he left Austin to go home to help his parents and relatives clean up the mess. It was then that Tate decided to pursue art fulltime. He decided he'd spent enough time "just getting by," and he knew it was time he started doing what he really wanted to do with his life. "It took a natural disaster to help me realize that I don't have forever, and if I had goals I wanted to come to fruition I'd better start as soon as possible." He moved to Lubbock a few months later, and has about one year of school left. Tate did several commissioned pieces, and two appear on our web site, along with Mike's brilliant bird renderings, and the brochure Rachel created for the Wildlife Center. He said, "The commissioned work I've done thus far has been portraits, but I'm open to anything. I'm all over the place stylistically, and don't have a favorite genre as yet." With their permission, all the work can be viewed on our web site at spwrc.org and Tate can be reached at tate.marshall@gmail.com We all know there's lots of local artistic talent and hopefully in the future, my column will profile renowned artist Jim Eppler of Lubbock, sculptor Randy Hamilton of Shallowater, and perhaps others. Stay tuned. Carol Lee is the Executive Director of the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Inc. She may be reached at spwrc@suddenlink.net |
Wildlife Center
With a focus on charitable giving, the Lubbock Area Foundation paves
the way for South Plains residents to become philanthropists. A philanthropist
is defined as "Someone who devotes his or her time, money, or effort
towards helping others" or "a person who loves humanity, is
committed deeply to making society a better place, who believes that
each individual, each dollar and each action makes a difference."
The Foundation makes many things possible across the South Plains, helping in various fields and institutions, including the arts, historic preservation, youth programs, libraries, pre-schools, elementary and secondary schools, as well as health and human services, housing, social services and others.
The South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center received its first grant February 3rd, 2004 from the Ruth Wright Fund for Animals, a component fund of the Lubbock Area Foundation.
In 2007, the Wildlife Center received a grant from this same fund in the amount of $13,000. These resources are earmarked for three things: food and supplies for our permanent educational birds of prey; food and supplies for our wildlife patients in rehabilitation, and for veterinary supplies. Unfortunately, our costs for virtually everything always go up - they never go down. The Foundation's assistance greatly reduces our burden on having to generate $13,000 amount independently. We prefer to concentrate our efforts on animal care without having to constantly come up with plans to generate income to help support our efforts.
Our wonderful veterinarians Drs. Farley, Preston, Polk and Crouch at Animal Medical Center and Dr. Jeanette Lubenau at Above and Beyond Pet Care Hospital do not charge for their skills and services, but we pay for our supplies and they add up rapidly. Our inventory always includes various mammal formulas, medications, IV fluids, syringes, bandages and dressings and other materials.
Food costs at the center skyrocket during spring and summer when hundreds of injured, ill, displaced and orphaned baby birds, mammals and reptiles are admitted. There are different formulas for baby squirrels, skunks, opossums and cottontails, and once the youngsters are weaned, we must provide healthy diets as they make their gradual transitions to independence and freedom. The same is true for the many hundreds of baby birds that are raised each year.
Created in 1981, the Lubbock Area Foundation is a public charity that benefits this region and is "made up of funds established by individuals, families, civic clubs and businesses for charitable uses." The donor determines the purpose for which their funds are used. Assets are invested, and the income is distributed in keeping with a donor's wishes. The Foundation does the administrative work, while the donor gains the satisfaction of giving.
There are a number of ways to set up charitable funds. They include: a Field of Interest Fund, (directing your gift for some area of community life.); a Donor Advised Fund; Unrestricted Funds; Scholarship Fund; Designated Fund (allowing you to support the Mission of a specific nonprofit organization). Nonprofit organizations can also establish an Agency Endowment. Finally, funds can be established that allow a donor to make a gift to the Foundation that "passes through" to their recommended charities. You can read more about all of these opportunities for giving at the Foundation's website at lubbockareafoundation.org or call the Foundation at 806/762-8061.
Dr. Ruth Cowart Wright was a lifelong Lubbock resident whose parents were among the earliest settlers in this area. Ruth attended Lubbock High and then Texas Tech University where she received B.A. and M.A. degrees. She earned her doctoral degree from American University, later returning to Lubbock to teach public school in Slaton and Lubbock. She then joined the Political Science Department of Texas Tech where she was a respected member of the faculty for nearly 30 years. A popular and well-liked professor, Dr. Wright retired from Tech in 1983. Her husband, Elmer Wright, predeceased her.
Ruth had a great love for her pets, and that love evolved to include animals in general. In her will, she directed that her estate be used by the Lubbock Area Foundation for the support of organizations that provide care for animals that are lost, abandoned, or injured. The Foundation preserves her estate as a permanent endowment for that purpose, seeking out and providing annual grants from the endowment to the organizations and programs in this area that provide care and rehabilitation of animals. Ruth passed away September 26, 2002.
The Wildlife Center is very grateful for this gift made possible by Dr. Wright. As our census and the need for wildlife services grows annually, so do the costs to keep our doors open, and we are very grateful to LAF.
The Wildlife Center is licensed - but not supported in any way - by our regulating agencies, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. About 3000 animals are cared for annually, with a goal of release back to the wild whenever possible.
Donations, grants and gifts are unquestionably our lifeblood, and this generous contribution assures that our patients - both large and small - will benefit directly through Dr. Ruth Wright's legacy, and her shared passion for animals.
The Lubbock Area Foundation for the communities of the Texas South Plains sums it up best on their web page with four words: For Good. For Ever.
Would your school like a program about bats — those fascinating flying creatures of the night?
Gail Barnes, licensed bat rehabilitator at the Wildlife Center, will bring some taxidermied bat specimens to show you several different species. Thank you to Dr. Robert Baker of Texas Tech University for sharing these with us.
Phone Gail at the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (806.799.2142) Monday through Friday between 8 am and 4 pm to make your arrangements.
