THE GUARDIANS

                                                               THE GUARDIAN 
                                       Bronze 15" x  8" x 7" Babinga wood Base.
 I observed a small herd of Cape Buffalo on the Masai Mara in Kenya.  Between us and his charge a massive bull stood, his stance and eyes told us he meant business.  I based this sculpture on the observance.
Note: All of my art is for sale  see at www.stonelionsculpture.com  or 970-669-4307




Cape Buffalo herds are diminishing all over Africa because of encroachment of mans growing population. The cape buffalo is on of the most dangerous animals in Africa.

Picture at left Masai Mara.  Game hunting farms throughout Africa contribute to the disappearance of the larger bulls by trophy hunters leaving the younger bulls to protect the herds.


Picture right Tanzania. 2012 an old bull


I am not against responsible hunting for sustenance, but not for the infliction of damage to the creatures for a trophy to boost someones testosterone rush.

Elephants and Rhinos

Before the Charge"
Bronze 16"x 8" x 8"
The territorial temperament of the Black Rhino makes him vulnerable to the poacher.

ELEPHANTS AND RHINOS

I care about all animals and the environment especially animals that are being eradicated by the ignorance or greed of man.  I like to tell a story with my sculpture, a story that speaks for the animals that have no voice.

Black Rhinos and Elephants are endangered for ivory, aphrodisiac and dagger handles.  Governments make excuses that there is no room for these wonderful and intelligent beasts and allow them to be slaughtered for their Ivory for China, dagger handles for the Saudis and trophies for the "American sportsman".  My greatest desire is to please the connoisseurs of art while touching the hart of those that are hardened to the kill or indifferent, hopeful they will realize that soon these magnificent symbols of freedom will only live in zoos.

 

   

 African Elephant, Warning, stay back. 

 

 

 

 "On His Ground" Bronze with African Babinga wood base.

 

 

 

Killing the Wolf By Aldo Leopold

We were eating lunch on a high rimrock, at the foot of which a turbulent river elbowed its way. We saw what we thought was a doe fording the torrent, her breast awash in white water. When she climbed the bank toward us and shook out her tail, we realized our error: it was a wolf. A half-dozen others, evidently grown pups, sprang from the willows and all joined in a welcoming melee of wagging tails and playful maulings. What was literally a pile of wolves writhed and tumbled in the center of an open flat at the foot of our rimrock.
In those days we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf. In a second we were pumping lead into the pack, but with more excitement than accuracy; how to aim a steep downhill shot is always confusing. When our rifles were empty, the old wolf was down, and a pup was dragging a leg into impassable side-rocks.
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.

 Since then I have lived to see state after state extirpate its wolves. I have watched the face of many a newly wolfless mountain, and seen the south-facing slopes wrinkle with a maze of new deer trails. I have seen every edible bush and seedling browsed, first to anaemic desuetude, and then to death. I have seen every edible tree defoliated to the height of a saddlehorn. Such a mountain looks as if someone had given God a new pruning shears, and forbidden Him all other exercise. In the end the starved bones of the hoped-for deer herd, dead of its own too-much, bleach with the bones of the dead sage, or molder under the high-lined junipers.

Leopold, Aldo: A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There, 1948, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987, pp. 129-132.

Sirius (Leopold's Wolf)
"Wishing on a Star" 10"x 6"x 7"

I carver her from white Colorado alabaster and placed a silver star in her face representing her spirit or sole as I believe all creatures posses, not only man.

Introducing Monty Taylor

www.stonelionsculpture.com          Kenya Leopard Masai Mara Safari 2011

 Monty Taylor, Loveland, CO,  1/26/2013

I retired from aviation after 40 years and resumed my lifelong passion of the arts, primarily sculpting animals.  My work took me to the remote Alaska bush where I stayed in camps and villages and lived closely with the indigenous peoples and wildlife.  I studied and carved with the Inuit carvers of the western coastal islands and rivers.  My works, particularly in wood and stone, capture their styles and simplicity of form.   Recent trips to Africa continue to inspire My desire to speak for animals at-risk. My work merges my passion for art and the concerns for the plight of animals of the world. 

Blogging is new for me, I am from an era of paper and pen so please bear with me as I attempt to tell my story and introduce you to my art, my friends and my adventures in life.

To be continued