Wild Life: The Other Tradition, 2002.

Organized by the Polk Museum of Art, Wild Life: The Other Tradition presents 47 works by 19 contemporary artists from across the country who use animals as the focus of many of their artworks. Prompted by the proliferation of uncreative scenes of flocks of birds, deer, and (in Florida) manatees in wildlife art expositions, the Museum has selected artworks that reflect a variety of creative approaches to animals as the subject: the intense beauty of works by Alfredo Arreguin, Melissa Miller, Joseph Raffael, Tom Uttech, and John Alexander; the whimsical imagery of Sally Chandler, Roy De Forest, Isabel Sim Hamilton, Joseph Peragine, and Robert Sholties; the dramatic scenes by David Bates, Gaylen Hansen, Alan Loehle, and Mark Messersmith; and the investigation of spiritual, intellectual, and emotional interconnections in the work of Julie Comnick, Don Eddy, Karen Halt, Robert McCauley, and Kay Miller. The common theme in these works is the identification of some of humankind’s most basic instincts within the behavior and habitat of the animal kingdom.