Exhibition featuring the work of internationally acclaimed artists Richard Symonds and Suzie Marsh
After a hugely successful week at the Menier Gallery, the Moonstruck exhibition has now closed. There were many highlights in the week, including the Private View on Tuesday night when Jill officially opened Moonstruck and the artists both spoke very movingly of their inspiration following their visit to the Chengdu sanctuary last year.
The Animals Asia team also enjoyed the opportunity during the week of welcoming old friends, like many of the members of the Southampton group, as well as new supporters who bought sculptures whilst passing through the gallery on the way to the Menier Theatre.
Of course the Friday afternoon was a major highlight with both artists giving live demonstrations of their art to a fascinated audience, including our wonderful supporter, Rula Lenska who couldn’t resist lending a helping hand. Jill rounded off a very busy day by giving a brilliant update on the bear farming issue and the current Chinese support for an end to this horrific industry. We were very happy to be joined by Martin Roberts from “Homes under the Hammer”, Simon Cowell and Jim Incledon from Wildlife SOS (makers of the recent fabulous film about bear farming and our work in Vietnam) and fellow artist Gary Hodges.
We are indebted to the incredible generosity of Richard and Suzie in giving up a whole year of their lives to immerse themselves in bears of all shapes and sizes and, in Richard’s case, to beautiful drawings of other endangered Chinese wildlife, such as snow leopards and tigers. Everyone agreed that their depictions of Oliver, Jasper, Emy, Paddy, Jingle and many others were absolutely inspired. We were particularly thrilled when Chinese superstar Karen Mok bought the beautiful sculpture of “her” bear, Boabe.
Thanks also to our amazing volunteers who helped at the gallery, Maren Dallmann, Babs Emery, Silke Dallmann, John Harris, Lynne Waddell, Jessica Carter and Barbara Havers.
Final figures for the exhibition are not yet available as many orders are still pouring in through our online gallery but, thanks to Richard and Suzie’s extremely generous donation of up to 50 per cent of the proceeds from Moonstruck, our work to end bear farming has received an extremely significant boost.
In the meantime, drawings and sculptures are still available in our online gallery. Please take this wonderful opportunity to purchase some of these incredible drawings and sculptures of our beloved bears and, in so doing, also show your support for our on-going work.
