The Waterfowl Festival is proud to unveil the featured artwork for the 50th Anniversary Festival by Featured Artist, Bart Walter.
“Wind and Waves” is a bronze of two Canada geese taking flight while four Canvasback ducks look on. It features a unique, cross-section perspective that illustrates the movement of take-off and its resulting ripple effects from above and below the surface of the water. Canada geese and Canvasback ducks are two of the most beloved waterfowl species found in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“Wind and Waves” as well as his selection as the 50th Anniversary Festival Featured Artist, represents a homecoming for sculptor Bart Walter, who began his career at the Waterfowl Festival as a wood carver at the young age of sixteen. His early work was inspired by the wildlife and landscapes of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and “Wind and Waves” is a welcome return to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“We could not have asked for a more beautiful and appropriate work to commemorate the 50th Waterfowl Festival,” said Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President. “Bart has been part of the Festival Family for many years and shares our belief that art inspires us to conserve the wildlife, habitat and heritage of the Eastern Shore. We hope ‘Wind and Waves’ finds a home in Easton as another important piece of public art, like its predecessor, Family Affair, that was created by Bart for the Festival’s 25th Anniversary in 1995.”
“Family Affair,” a bronze sculpture of a pair of geese and their hatchlings, resides at the front of the Waterfowl Building on South Harrison Street in Easton and is a beloved part of the historic downtown’s streetscape. Taking photos with “Family Affair” has become a rite of passage and part of visitors’ annual Waterfowl Festival traditions.
This is what Walter loves most about public art. “It’s the gift that keeps giving. It’s always out there and always speaking to the public, years and even decades later.”
After beginning his career as a wood carver, Walter transitioned to working in bronze in the late 1980s after his work caught the attention of famed primatologist, Jane Goodall, at a chance meeting at a lecture. She commissioned Walter to make two chimpanzee sculptures that now reside at the Jane Goodall Institute in Arlington, Va.
A trained biologist, Walter prefers to sketch and sculpt in the wild and gets as close to his subjects as possible. Walter has sketched and sculpted chimpanzees and elephants in Africa, polar bears in the Arctic, penguins in the Antarctic and wild mustangs on the plains of Wyoming.
Walter’s work can be found around the world in private and public collections including the Ugandan Wildlife Authority Headquarters in Kampala, the private collection of King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, the National Zoo in Washington, DC, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming.
“Wind and Waves” will be offered for sale exclusively at the 50th Waterfowl Festival in November. It will be available in limited editions in three sizes:
44″ x 72″ x 21″
16″ x 26.5″ x 8″
11″ X 18″ X 5.5″
