Elephants for Africa: Baltimore artist donates original art for charity

A Baltimore-based British artist has joined forces with UK-based elephant charity Elephants for Africa for some festive fundraising.

Emma Kaufmann, who specializes in animal portraits, has donated an original piece of art entitled ‘Elephant Pals‘ to support the wildlife and conservation work of Dr Kate Evans, who is based both in the UK and Botswana, to help raise the profile of and funds for the charity she founded called Elephants for Africa.

Kate fell in love with Emma’s art after being introduced to it by a mutual friend and asked Emma if she wanted to donate a piece to encourage donations for a festive fundraising appeal. Kate says: “One of the charity’s private donors is going to match donations up to a total of £10,000 (approx. $15,000) and we’re asking people to help make that happen.  They can donate as a Christmas gift for a friend or relative via this link  – or they can just donate regardless!

Artist Emma Kaufman.
Artist Emma Kaufman.

“And, as an added incentive, the donor or fundraiser who donates the most will receive an original piece of art work from international author and artist Emma Kaufmann​. Emma’s created a glorious piece of original art based on her love of all elephants called Elephant Pals. This one features Asian elephants, but we love them all, of course!”

Emma, who has lived in Baltimore since 2000, is delighted to be sharing her art for a good cause, commenting: “As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘the only way to have a friend is to be one.’ That inspirational quote made me want to paint a lively pair of young elephants who were really good pals. To depict them in all their fun-loving, energetic glory I made them very colorful and vibrant using lots of expressive brushstrokes.

“Elephants are awesomely powerful and soulful creatures, you can’t help but just smile when you see them. I know there is a point to having them in zoos but seeing them there they always look so miserable. The place for them is in the wild and we need to make sure we strive to keep their natural habitat intact as much as possible.

“African elephants are in crisis and Elephants for Africa (EfA) are doing their best to give these magnificent animals the best chance of survival. Their work is vitally important as right now elephants are running out of time and space, are being poached for their ivory and having their habitat taken over by humans. EfA’s research and education programmes can make a big impact on sustaining the African elephant population and they need your help and support.”

To donate and be in the running to win Emma’s art, you can visit here or email [email protected].

Here is how your donation can help:

$15 – Elephants & Farmers board game for Environmental Club
$25 – A pair of children’s binoculars
$50 – Delivery of an Elefun class to Environmental Club
$60 – Teacher visit to National Park
$150 – Elefun weekend in National Park for 1 Environmental Club member
$250 -Installation of a nature garden at a local primary school
$300 – Delivery of a ‘Living With’ workshop to a community
$350 – Camera trap for monitoring the biodiversity of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park
$400 – Equipment box for Environmental Club
$3000- Production of ‘Living With’ workshop video to donate to the communities

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