Christina Penescu - Member Profile

Society Of Animal Artists Member Profile

Christina Penescu

Signature Member

Scratchboard, USA

Christina Penescu was born in Bucharest, Romania, 1988. Her family relocated to California when Christina was a year old. Since early childhood, her passion for art and nature was very apparent. As a child she loved to collect books about animals and spend her time outside in nature. Cristina has experimented with a variety of mediums and styles and recently has made the transition to realistic wildlife art, which she feels has always been her true calling in life. She enjoys painting a wide variety of wildlife subjects, however wild canids, especially wolves, hold a special place in her heart and have been a recurring theme in her art since childhood. Cristina is has had no formal training and is a self-educated artist. She has experience working in a variety of mediums, however she prefers acrylic and scratchboard. Her artwork is very detail oriented and she aims to bring the viewer an up close, intimate look at nature. She hopes to inspire the world through her depictions of the natural beauty around us. Cristina is currently at the beginning of her career as a wildlife fine artist but has already begun to carve a niche for herself in the field. She recently was accepted as a Signature Member of the world-renowned Society of Animal Artists. Cristina is also a member of Artists for Conservation and the Marwell International Wildlife Art Society.

Pokey Park - Member Profile

Society Of Animal Artists Member Profile

Pokey Park

Associate Member

Sculptor, USA

Pokey Park (Marie Whittle-Webb Park) was born and spent her formative years in Coastal Georgia. Pokey's earliest memories are the play of light and shadow in the live oak forest, the designs in driftwood and shells, the patterns created by wind and tide, the dance of wild animals, the flight of birds, and the force of storms. Those early impressions have greatly influenced her art and life.

Pokey spent 33 years in the Pennsylvania countryside and the Massachusetts Coast, sailing waters from Chesapeake Bay to Nova Scotia all the while studying plants and wildlife, drawing and creating sculptures from those images. She has traveled the far reaches of the earth and loves most to embrace things that radiate honesty, kindness, and openness. As a transformer of energy, Pokey captures the essence of life forces in her bronze sculptures.

She has a BFA from the University of Georgia where she first experimented with bronze casting under Leonard DeLonga. She also works in clay, wood and stone. Pokey taught art to both adults and children when she lived on the East Coast. She now divides her time between Tucson, Arizona and Ridgway, Colorado. Her work ranges in scale from a few inches to more than ten feet and has been enlarged or downsized for site specific commissions. Pokey has public installations in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and her work is in private collections across the United States.

Walt Matia - Member Profile

Society Of Animal Artists Member Profile

Walt Matia

Master Distinguished Signature Member

Sculptor, USA

Walter Matia was educated at Williams College in Massachusetts, where he earned degrees in Biology and Art Design. Much of his training was attained during a long apprenticeship in the Exhibits Department of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

After leaving the Cleveland Museum, Walter worked for eleven years with the Nature Conservancy, a national non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered species and unique habitats. He served as the organization’s vice president in charge of land management.

He began casting bronze sculptures in 1980. Initially, he concentrated on bird life, over the years he has worked on sporting dogs and other mammals. In 1987 he began a series of large fountain and garden pieces. In 1989 the Blair House Restoration Committee placed one of his fountains in the formal garden of the United States President’s Guest House. To complement the fountain, Walter produced a bronze wall frieze for the Blair House in 1992.

His works have been exhibited and purchased by many prestigious museum, corporate and private collections. A very impressive list can be found on his website.

He is a Master Artist with SAA meaning he has won 5 or more Awards of Excellence and a past Master of BIRDS IN ART at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum of Wausau

You can read more about him and see more of his work on his website www.waltmatia.com

Mort Solberg - Member Profile

Society Of Animal Artists Member Profile

Mort Solberg

Master Signature Member

Painter, USA

Morten E. Solberg is an artist's artist. He is versatile in all mediums. He paints in oil, acrylic and watercolor and his techniques range from photo-realism to total abstraction. Years of pursuing his craft via design studios and commercial art brought Mort to the West.

Mort attended The Cleveland Institute Of Art studying painting and design. He shed his commercial ties and concentrated on fine art and has been painting full time since 1970. After moving to Southern California's Orange County in 1968, he firmly established himself in the art world with memberships in the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, the Society of Animal Artists, Wildlife Artists of the World, Knickerbocker Artists and the Society of Master Impressionists, as a lifetime Master member.

Awards and inclusions in prestigious collections followed. His paintings have graced the covers of numerous magazines, and he has been featured in American Artist, Wildlife Art News, Art West, Watercolor, Sports Afield, Sporting Classic, Southwest Art and Orange County Illustrated. In 1986, American Artist chose Mort as their "Artist of the Year". His accomplishments have earned him listings in Who's Who International Biographies, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Art, and Who's Who in the West. In 1993, Mort was elected to U.S. Art Magazines "Artist Hall of Fame". In 2001 Wildlife Art Magazine established Mort as a "Master Artist". Mort's work has been published as limited edition prints since 1977.

Mort's work has taken top awards in many of the exhibitions he has entered, including the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor, the Society of Animal Artists and the Arts For The Parks Grand Prize of $25,000 and Gold Medal. His work is represented in many collections including the Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, National Academy of Design, The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum Of Art, The Dunnegan Museum Of Art, The National World Museum Of Environmental Art, American Artist Magazine, Wildlife Art Magazine, National Parks Academy For The Arts and many private and public collections.

Kent Ullberg - Member Profile

Society Of Animal Artists Member Profile

Kent Ullberg

Master Signature Member

Bronze and Steel Sculpture, USA

A native of Sweden, Kent Ullberg is recognized as one of world's foremost wildlife sculptors. He studied at the Swedish University College of Art in Stockholm. He also worked at museums in Germany, the Netherlands and France. He was curator at the Botswana National Museum and Gallery and in the U.S. at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He has made his home permanently in the United
 States where he now lives on Padre Island, Corpus Christi, TX. He also maintains a studio in Loveland, Colorado.

Ullberg is a member of numerous important art organizations that have honored him with many prestigious awards. These include, in New York: the Allied Artists of America; the National Arts Club, the National Sculpture Society; and the Society of Animal Artists. In 1990 his peers elected him a full Academician (NA), thus making him the first wildlife artist since John James Audubon to receive one of the greatest tributes in American art. His memberships outside New York include: the American Society of Marine Artists; Nature in Art, in Sandhurst, UK; and the National Academy of Western Art in Oklahoma City, OK which awarded him the Prix de West, the foremost recognition in western art.

He is best known for the monumental works he has executed for museums and municipalities from Stockholm, Sweden, to Cape Town, S. Africa. His Fort Lauderdale, FL and Omaha, NE installations are the largest wildlife bronze compositions ever done, spanning several city blocks.