Two Members of the SAA ‘Family’ are gone

A sad message from 
the president of the Society of Animal Artists…

It is with a heavy heart and much sadness that I inform everyone about the recent passing of two Society of Animal Artists family members.

Marijane Singer, long-time Patron member and Director of the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, NJ, passed away this past Sunday, September 12, 2010.

Long-time Signature member Robert Salo also passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on September 13, 2010. He lived and breathed the SAA, and was responsible for the SAA Art and the Animal tour coming to Estes Park, CO in 2008. His wife, Jeanne, asks that any memorial contributions in his name be made to the Society of Animal Artists. What a wonderful tribute to his spirit and his devotion to our organization!

-Diane Mason

Marijane Singer

Marijane Singer, a cultural and civic volunteer who was director of the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, a showcase for wildlife art, died Sunday. She was 80.

"We're known internationally but we aren't known locally," Mrs. Singer said in a 2008 interview with The Record, referring to the museum lodged in an 1893 carriage house on the former Blauvelt estate overlooking Kinderkamack Road. "If you aren't into wildlife art, you probably never heard of us."

But wildlife artists heard of Mrs. Singer. She became the museum's director about 25 years ago, after she joined the board of the Blauvelt-Demarest Foundation, a legacy of the philanthropist Hiram Blauvelt. Guy Coheleach, whose work is currently exhibited at the Blauvelt, said Mrs. Singer raised the profile of the museum, one of a handful in the United States dedicated to wildlife art.

"She was influential in getting the Society of Animal Artists, the largest and most proficient group of wildlife artists, to have their annual show at the Blauvelt a couple of times," said Coheleach, of Hobe Sound, Fla. (Read more)

Robert R. Salo

Robert (Bob) Salo's love of nature and wildlife began early. As a boy growing up in Michigan's remote Keweenaw peninsula, Bob spent hours studying and drawing the animals, farms, and forests of that spectacular region.

Following a tour of duty in the U.S. Army, Bob received his first formal art instruction at Meinzinger Art School in Detroit, where he studied under George Rich.

While working for many years as a commercial artist and fine arts illustrator in Detroit and Boston, Bob continued to celebrate his love of nature through wildlife and landscape painting in his free time.

Bob fulfilled a lifelong dream when he moved to the outskirts of Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park. In Colorado he perfected his painting skills, devoting his full time to capturing that area's wildlife and scenery on canvas. His work in Boston introduced him to New England's rural charm and seaside beauty.

Bob Salo's paintings can be found in galleries and museums, as well as in private and corporate collections in the United States and abroad. He is a signature artist member of the Society of Animal Artists [SAA], and has been exhibited in the prestigious national tour ARTS for the PARKS numerous times.

Bob's wife Jeanne has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Society of Animal Artists, as that was so near-and-dear to Bob's heart. As a member of SAA for nearly 30 years, that is an honor he well deserves.


(rc)