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By the age of 30, Boyd had headed several Audubon Club
groups, traveled extensively doing plant and animal
research, had sold enough art so that he had paintings
hanging on most continents -- and so he began to teach art
as well as biology. His art classes at the University of
Alaska where he taught for 36 years before his retirement in
2002, were always packed with students eager to learn new
techniques. Boyd is unusual as a teacher because he deals
with all mediums and photography, an important ability in a
rural state like Alaska. Some of the art courses he has
offered are: Wildlife Photography, Wildlife Drawing,
Wildlife Painting, Watercolor, Oil Painting for Pleasure,
Acrylic Painting, Illustrating Children's Books and all
levels of drawing, sculpture and print making classes.
Boyd believes in teaching art the
way the old masters taught, by example, so his students set
up their canvases behind him and jump right into what he
calls his "paint alongs". In this way, students can learn
many different styles, from the old masters to realism, by
painting along and each week covering a new technique or
style.
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Boyd
on Safari in Kenya
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Boyd is usually classified as an impressionist. Over the
years, he has developed several innovative methods of
working in many mediums. The fine limited edition art prints
for sale on this site are a cross section of his life's work
and are in the neoimpressionist school. His unique
understanding of wildlife and wildlife settings added to his
formal training and experiences with traditional art
mediums, combine here in this unique offering of limited
edition prints affordably priced for all nature lovers. His
"Nature Fantasy" page is delight. It combines Boyd's unique
perspective and his imaginative fancy with elements of the
natural world. The results are breathtaking! You can see
more about how Boyd makes his art prints on his favorite
software maker's webite, Microfrontier.
For many years, Boyd and his
wife Susan have traveled the world to study the wild places.
They have taken many groups of students and eco-tourists to
Kenya, East Africa. The parks and preserves of Kenya are
among their favorite places on earth, and have inspired much
of Boyd's artwork. Another great inspiration for Boyd is the
rainforest of Belize, Central America. He has been totally
captivated by the beautiful jungle birds and insects that
are found there amongst the Mayan Ruins, and he and Susan
have recently moved there from Alaska, and they begun
several volunteer projects in both the fields of art and
biology. You can read the article about their
Trek
to Belize
in the "Observations of a Naturalist" section of the
site.
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Boyd's intimate knowledge of wildlife really shines through
in his prints. He has a dual background in both Art and
Biology with an emphasis on the Natural Sciences. He has
taught numerous courses in both disciplines at the
University of Alaska for more than 30 years. Many of his
field identification courses such as Flora ID, Birds of
World, Wildlife Photography, and Mushroom ID have long
waiting lists of students. In his book, the Flora of South
Central Alaska, he has used his abilities as an artist to
help people identify the things that grow in the world
around them. Read a review of the
book.
Boyd has an extensive amount of
field experience. He worked for many years as Assistant
Curator with Tracy Aviary in Utah, which at one time had an
aggressive program of restoring endangered bird species into
wild habitats. He was also naturalist on several Walt Disney
films which were a part of the True Life Adventure series
that Walt Disney Productions pioneered.
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Susan makes a friend
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Susan
Shaffer
Naturalist/Business Coordinator/Web
designer
SUSAN'S
EMAIL
Susan also has a background in natural science and often
helped field wildlife questions when the Shaffers traveled
with groups, but her main expertise while on safari is her
ability to coordinate travel arrangements with
schedules.
She always ran interference for
people whenever they needed help, whether it was arranging
for special diets, assisting with long distance phone calls,
or just helping to locate items left in hotel
rooms.
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Susan has always been a people person and enjoys interacting
with people from other cultures. She has taken those skills
and also skills she has developed in web page writing and
combined them., to create this site. Now anyone on the
internet can view Boyd Shaffer's . Susan coordinates all art
sales and personally handles all wholesale and retail print
activities. She is very accessible and you can email her at
any time and get an answer back immediately.
After headquartering for many years in Alaska, Boyd and
Susan spent five years residing in the Cayo District of
Belize, Central America and are now living in Western
Washington State.
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