In Love with Wildlife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Lucy Arnold, Art Editor

Anne Maddox, Nashville Branch, is an official Hoosier Woman Artist, as designated by the Indiana Arts Commission and the Indiana state governor, and a member of the Indiana Wildlife Artists Association and Artists for Climate Awareness.

She was born and raised in England and attended art and teaching colleges. She later taught in Nigeria and then the Bahamas for 13 years. After relocating to the United States to find a publisher for “Wildflowers of the Bahamas,” Maddox taught art in Florida, Tennessee, and Indiana.

An avid nature lover, Maddox was moved to paint the wildflowers on the roadsides in Tennessee. Naturally, when bringing flowers home, some wildlife hitched a ride. This led her to the idea of including them, and more, to create a more complete representation of the ecosystem these creatures inhabit.

 

 

Watercolor paintings (22 x 30) from the Ecosystems series by Anne Maddox: No. 5, “Hedgerow”; No. 2, “Woodland”; No. 3, “Prairie.”

Maddox went on to create a series of six “Ecosystem” paintings and joined the Indiana Wildlife Artist Association and Artists for the Environment. The Ecosystem series took 15 years to complete. The final one debuted in 2024. Each has earned awards in juried shows, including an award for education through Art by the Robert Cooper Audubon Association of Muncie, Indiana.

She uses this series of six paintings when she talks to groups about the interconnectedness of nature and the need to preserve and create habitats. Maddox also created a Facebook page, “Wild About Marion,” for local residents to share information on how to create habitats and pollinator gardens. This is a prototype she hopes other cities copy to help create corridors of nature preserves necessary for the survival of wildlife.