However, in the case of the rhino, it’s a problem ramped up to another level. The thriving illegal trade in rhino horn drives poaching crime and to fight this we need courageous and generous people. With that in mind I present to you two emails that explain a funding project with a positive outcome. My thanks to Dale and Marla Rimkus at the Illinois Chapter of SCI for their vision and true commitment to conservation and to my good friends, John and Judy Travers at Imire in Zimbabwe for their brave and unswerving commitment to the conservation of not only the Black Rhino but all African Wildlife.

Email no 1.

Dear John and Judy

Some months ago I donated a Rhino sculpture to the Illinois Chapter of the Safari Club International. This was in effect not a full donation in that the Chapter paid for the Foundry costs and other related expenses to enable them to acquire the bronze piece. For my part I made available number three of an edition of twenty Extinction is Forever and they in turn auctioned the Bronze at their annual fund raising Banquet. It was agreed that the profit from this sale would be earmarked for Imire. I think it is very important to note that Illinois Chapter have only one fund raising dinner every year and instead of keeping the profit from the sale of the bronze they had long ago indicated that it would be earmarked for a project of my choosing and I chose Imire. The organiser for this generous donation is one Dale Rimkus and his wife Marla who bought the piece on the auction for their home…

Email no 2.

On behalf of Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation we would very much like to thank John Tolmay, a world renowned Zimbabwean bronze sculptor and conservationist, for his accurate and detailed masterpiece of a rhino which he donated to the Illinois Chapter of the Safari Club International. This magnificent work of art created by John was in turn auctioned at their annual fund raising dinner. Instead of the Illinois Chapter keeping the profits they asked John who would he like the beneficiary to be of the donation raised? John very kindly and considerately chose the Imire Rhino Conservation Program.
This unbelievable offer has taken a lot of planning and trust in John’s choice of Imire, a small black and white rhino breeding station set in the heart of Zimbabwe. The Imire passion and focus is for the survival of the rhino species. The protection of wildlife and community development projects as education are most certainly the key to the survival of conservation areas.
This is a responsibility that could easily become overwhelming if it wasn’t for the likes of the Illinois Chapter of Safari Club International, Mr and Mrs. Dale Rimkus, the organizers of the donation and of course John Tolmay – our voice who understands the importance of such a commitment.
When one is custodian and responsible for the security and the protection of the rhino, it becomes a massive undertaking. There is never enough security! Your donation will go towards intensifying the security of the rhino.
On behalf of Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation,we would sincerely like to thank the Illinos Chapter.We hope one day maybe when you are in Africa, you will come to Imire and enjoy the close and wonderful encounters with the rhino – it’s a perfect introduction to the wilds of Africa.
We are so very grateful indeed, please pass on our sincere thanks to all concerned.
Warm Regards

Jude and John Travers

The New Elephant

Back in North Carolina now,  I am back in the studio working on new pieces and my new elephant sculpture is taking shape. I had the pleasure of meeting one Bill Malik at the SCI show in Reno this year. My elephant piece I call “The Askari Bull” drew him into my booth.  Bill is ex of Kenya – in those heady days when it was not proper to hunt an Elephant with less than 100 pounds on each side. I had decided before that I was going to sculpt one of those iconic animals.  Bill’s enthusiasm and later his wonderful pictures have influenced this new sculpture of a bull carrying in excess of 150 pounds on each side. I hope you will like him.

A New Book
I have had the good fortune to be invited to be in an upcoming book by published author and fellow artist, Cindy Ann Coldiron. The book will be published by Schiffer Publishing. It’s working title is Wildlife Art Today. It will will be available from Schiffer Publishing, Amazon, B&N and other retailers both here and abroad. I will keep you posted as to its release.

Congratulations!  You were one of our Top Ten Sellers at last year’s Art in the Barn!

Pretty cool huh.

That means I am now invited automatically and included in the “Invited Artists” portion of the jury presentation too.

Thanks to all the friends old and new who made this possible.

BOOTH NUMBER AT SAFARI CLUB IS:  1024 (you’ll find us in the main hall)
We are staying on in Reno for another week after SCI as we’re attending The Wild Sheep Foundation Show that will be held at the GRAND SIERRA RESORT & CASINO

THE SHEEP SHOW:   Booth 620

We look forward to seeing those of you attending the show and sharing a tale or two.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

These new pieces made their debut at Dallas Safari Club and you can view them in the gallery.

Our fist stop was to Imire Game Farm and Lodge in the Wedza district and anyone that goes to Zimbabwe and fails to visit this place is frankly either misinformed or plain loopy. We stayed with the owners John and Judy Travers who are old friends of mine and the stay was typical of these wonderful people. Just for starters while eating supper that first night we were joined by a half grown Wildebeest who having been hand-reared is convinced that she is human! So she just walks into the kitchen and that set the tone for rest of our stay. The highlight here was not only the fact that we were in close proximity to the small herd of Black Rhino and their two new White Rhino, who by the way, have not read the label that states a fence is not to be crossed so they go walk-about all over the district with their guards in hot pursuit on a regular basis.

For Mike and I the real star of the show was Mac the largest of their Elephants. What a spectacular fellow he is. If you visit Zimbabwe and fail to visit Mac then you have really missed something. He is huge but I think if he could sit in Judy’s lap he would. I think Mike and I had some serious thoughts crashing around in our heads. We hunted Elephants in the 80’s in the Chewore and the Dande and I for one had occasion to ponder just what we had killed when we hunted one of these guys. Before we left Imire I resolved to return before leaving Africa to come and measure the dimensions of this incredible fellow for my next sculpture of an elephant bull.

From Imire we journeyed to the Midlands of Zimbabwe where we were to have a drink of the Famous Grouse alongside Alan Lowe’s grave, long dead now from the attentions of an Elephant cow some 14 years ago. Both Mike and I had lots to share with Alan that day. The sadness is gone and what we have to remember and to share can never be taken away from us, even after the reaper issues the invitation.

Mike left after 11 days and I returned to the ranch in the Midlands to stay with Ken and Sandy, my younger sister. I made two forays up to Bulawayo to visit my elder sister and her husband who teach at Falcon College and who have recently built the most beautiful ranch style house red brick under thatch and a home that leaves me green with envy.

I spent most of the time on the ranch with Sandy and Ken who is planting bananas in between fighting the poachers and the bush fires that now ravage Zimbabwe in manner that is simply sickening to see.

All too soon the trip came to an end and the five weeks I was in Zimbabwe were gone in a thrice. So I went back to Imire to measure up Mac and what an experience that was. By then Judy had a little Duiker to keep the rest of the menagerie company and so the show at Imire goes on.

Measuring Mac

Mike feeding Mac

Judy Travers and her herd

I leave for Barrington tomorrow to prepare for Art in the Barn.

JT

I have been busy in the studio despite the summer heat because we bought a little window mounted air con unit which does a great job of keeping it cool in there.

Extinction is Forever is ready and will be delivered when we go to Atlanta for the Australian flight. The number one of this new piece has already got a new home. I am also delivering Suspicion at the same time.  I love digging around in my mind to find another Cape Buffalo scene & I hope you enjoy this piece in the bronze as much as I have enjoyed sculpting it.  Then there are three Kudu Bulls on the turn table.   So far two are complete and the third is on its way. I am likely to call this piece “When Shadows Come to Life“  I leave that to your imagination.

Two pieces best described as “paper weights” a Kudu skull and a Buffalo skull, have been sent for casting. These make great gifts and look good on any desk.

We will be checking our emails in Australia so don’t hesitate to contact us.

Good on ya Mate.

You are now also able to make comments on each piece should you wish to leave your thoughts. If you are a social media user and would like to share a news article or a sculpture on your Facebook page or Tweet about something you have seen on the site, you are now able to do so. You can equally follow me on the Bronze Africa Facebook page or if you want to receive notifications of news updates via an RSS feed you can do that too by clicking on the Facebook or RSS feed links in the header above the menu.

You can now use the intuitive price request form to get a costing for each or multiple pieces of my art. If you have a budget and would like to state that, I can inform you which pieces in my portfolio would suit your budget.

If you wish to receive my news bulletins via email you can sign up to automatically have them delivered to your inbox. Look out for the new series of cartoons I will be adding here from time to time. I find myself in some very amusing situations and have been encouraged by friends and family alike to make some fun illustrations about these incidents. The first one will be the story of how I recently shot myself in the toe – with a pellet gun.

Obviously I can only hope that you will enjoy the refreshed web site and would welcome your thoughts and feedback if you wish to make any comments. You can leave a comment below or use the contact form to send your message. Enjoy browsing.