Art Wolfe on Planning Ahead & Taking Action, Entrepreneurship, Dissecting Inspiration & Publishing Multiple Books.
Art Wolfe (@artwolfe | artwolfe.com) Art Wolfe was born on September 13, 1951 in Seattle, Washington, and still calls the city home. He graduated from the University of Washington with Bachelor’s degrees in fine arts and art education in 1975, where he studied under professors such as Jacob Lawrence. His photography career has spanned five decades, a remarkable testament to the durability and demand for his images, his expertise, and his passionate advocacy for the environment and indigenous culture. During that time he has worked on every continent, in hundreds of locations, and on a dazzling array of projects.
Wolfe’s photographic mission is multi-faceted. By employing artistic and journalistic styles, he documents his subjects and educates the viewer. His unique approach to photography is based on his training in the arts and his love of the environment. His goal has always been to win support for conservation issues by “focusing on what’s beautiful on the Earth.” Hailed by William Conway, former president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, as “the most prolific and sensitive recorder of a rapidly vanishing natural world,” Wolfe has created millions of images in his lifetime and travels nearly nine months out of the year photographing for new projects, leading photographic tours and seminars, and giving inspirational presentations to corporate, educational, conservation, and spiritual groups.
Long before the genre of ‘conservation photography’ was conceived, Wolfe was practicing it. In 1997 he created a conservation-themed photography contest as “an event for the advancement of photography as a unique medium capable of bringing awareness and preservation to our environment through art.” The contest culminated in 2012 in which the International Conservation Photography Awards drew entries from around the world and was exhibited and traveled by The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle.
In 1978 he published his first book Indian Baskets of the Northwest Coast with the late Dr. Allan Lobb, a close friend and mentor, who also gave Wolfe a start by putting the young photographer’s work into patients’ rooms at Swedish Medical Center. Wolfe was soon photographing for the world’s top magazines such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, Audubon, GEO, and Terre Sauvage. Magazines all over the world publish his photographs and stories, and his work is licensed for retail products and advertising, as well as products such as USPS stamps, of which he has three.
Numerous US and international venues have featured monographs of his work as well his traveling exhibitions, Earth Is My Witness, Travels to the Edge, and Beyond the Lens. He has had four major exhibitions at Seattle’s Frye Art Museum, including One World, One Vision. Today his work is available online at www.artwolfe.com and at the Carnevale Gallery inLas Vegas.
Since 1988 he has published at least one book a year—1997 alone saw seven titles in the United States and abroad. He has released over 100 books in eight languages, including the popular titles The New Art of Photographing Nature and The Art of the Photograph, Vanishing Act, and award-winning titles Human Canvas, The High Himalaya, Water: Worlds between Heaven & Earth, Tribes, Rainforests of the World, Pacific Northwest – Land of Light and Water, as well as numerous children’s titles, including O is for Orca and Animal Action Alphabet. Graphis included his books Light on the Land and the controversial Migrations on its list of the 100 best books published in the 1990s.
In 2000 he formed Wildlands Press and subsequently published his signature work: The Living Wild, which has more than 70,000 copies in print worldwide and garnered awards from the National Outdoor Book Awards, Independent Publisher, Applied Arts and Graphis; Africa (2001) and Edge of the EarthCorner of the Sky (2003), both of which captured significant publishing awards, including IPPY (Independent Publishers), Benjamin Franklin (Publishers MarketingAssociation), and National Outdoor Book Award.
In 2014 Wolfe began a publishing relationship with Earth Aware Editions. This has resulted in numerous award-winning books including the encyclopedic Earth Is My Witness, also published in German, French, and Italian language editions by National Geographic; an all-new edition of Migrations, and in 2018 the Nautilus Award-winning Trees: Between Earth and Heaven. 2019 will see the publication of Wild Elephants: Conservation in the Age of Extinction and the trade edition of Human Canvas.
Wolfe has ventured into the world of television production with On Location with Art Wolfe, Techniques of the Masters and as host of American Photo’s Safari, which aired on ESPN 199
Art Wolfe (@artwolfe | artwolfe.com) Art Wolfe was born on September 13, 1951 in Seattle, Washington, and still calls the city home. He graduated from the University of Washington with Bachelor’s degrees in fine arts and art education in 1975, where he studied under professors such as Jacob Lawrence. His photography career has spanned five decades, a remarkable testament to the durability and demand for his images, his expertise, and his passionate advocacy for the environment and indigenous culture. During that time he has worked on every continent, in hundreds of locations, and on a dazzling array of projects.
Wolfe’s photographic mission is multi-faceted. By employing artistic and journalistic styles, he documents his subjects and educates the viewer. His unique approach to photography is based on his training in the arts and his love of the environment. His goal has always been to win support for conservation issues by “focusing on what’s beautiful on the Earth.” Hailed by William Conway, former president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, as “the most prolific and sensitive recorder of a rapidly vanishing natural world,” Wolfe has created millions of images in his lifetime and travels nearly nine months out of the year photographing for new projects, leading photographic tours and seminars, and giving inspirational presentations to corporate, educational, conservation, and spiritual groups.
Long before the genre of ‘conservation photography’ was conceived, Wolfe was practicing it. In 1997 he created a conservation-themed photography contest as “an event for the advancement of photography as a unique medium capable of bringing awareness and preservation to our environment through art.” The contest culminated in 2012 in which the International Conservation Photography Awards drew entries from around the world and was exhibited and traveled by The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle.
In 1978 he published his first book Indian Baskets of the Northwest Coast with the late Dr. Allan Lobb, a close friend and mentor, who also gave Wolfe a start by putting the young photographer’s work into patients’ rooms at Swedish Medical Center. Wolfe was soon photographing for the world’s top magazines such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, Audubon, GEO, and Terre Sauvage. Magazines all over the world publish his photographs and stories, and his work is licensed for retail products and advertising, as well as products such as USPS stamps, of which he has three.
Numerous US and international venues have featured monographs of his work as well his traveling exhibitions, Earth Is My Witness, Travels to the Edge, and Beyond the Lens. He has had four major exhibitions at Seattle’s Frye Art Museum, including One World, One Vision. Today his work is available online at www.artwolfe.com and at the Carnevale Gallery inLas Vegas.
Since 1988 he has published at least one book a year—1997 alone saw seven titles in the United States and abroad. He has released over 100 books in eight languages, including the popular titles The New Art of Photographing Nature and The Art of the Photograph, Vanishing Act, and award-winning titles Human Canvas, The High Himalaya, Water: Worlds between Heaven & Earth, Tribes, Rainforests of the World, Pacific Northwest – Land of Light and Water, as well as numerous children’s titles, including O is for Orca and Animal Action Alphabet. Graphis included his books Light on the Land and the controversial Migrations on its list of the 100 best books published in the 1990s.
In 2000 he formed Wildlands Press and subsequently published his signature work: The Living Wild, which has more than 70,000 copies in print worldwide and garnered awards from the National Outdoor Book Awards, Independent Publisher, Applied Arts and Graphis; Africa (2001) and Edge of the EarthCorner of the Sky (2003), both of which captured significant publishing awards, including IPPY (Independent Publishers), Benjamin Franklin (Publishers MarketingAssociation), and National Outdoor Book Award.
In 2014 Wolfe began a publishing relationship with Earth Aware Editions. This has resulted in numerous award-winning books including the encyclopedic Earth Is My Witness, also published in German, French, and Italian language editions by National Geographic; an all-new edition of Migrations, and in 2018 the Nautilus Award-winning Trees: Between Earth and Heaven. 2019 will see the publication of Wild Elephants: Conservation in the Age of Extinction and the trade edition of Human Canvas.
Wolfe has ventured into the world of television production with On Location with Art Wolfe, Techniques of the Masters and as host of American Photo’s Safari, which aired on ESPN 199
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