Richard Everett Sloan, 71, called the "Dean of Rainforest Painters"
Hoodini
By JOE CRANKSHAW
March 29, 2007
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,,TCP_16736_5449047,00.html
PALM CITY — Internationally known artist Richard Everett Sloan —
called the "Dean of Rainforest Painters" — died at his home here Sunday.
Sloan, 71, had been a resident of Palm City for the past 10 years, but
had not been active in local art circles. He was named Master Wildlife
Artist for 1994 by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and given the
Award of Excellence in 1990 by the Society of Animal Artists.
"I'm still in shock," said his daughter Debbie Moore of Mundelein,
Ill. "This was totally unexpected. We still don't know what happened."
Born Dec. 11, 1935, in Chicago, Ill., Sloan attended the American
Academy of Art and worked as an advertising illustrator before joining
the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago as a staff illustrator. He also began
painting in oils and launched his professional career following a
sold-out solo exhibition at the Abercrombie and Fitch Gallery in Chicago.
Sloan left the zoo staff and spent much of his life capturing images
of the wildlife of the world's rainforests. He is credited by the
organization Artists for Conservation with being the first wildlife
artist in North America to devote all of his efforts to documenting
exotic animals in the world's tropics. He made 17 expeditions to the
Amazon Basin, Guyana, Guatemala, Trinidad, the Peruvian Andes,
Thailand, Tobago and Belize and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Sloan's works are part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian
Institution, the Illinois State Museum, the Denver Museum of Natural
History and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. His work
has been exhibited at the National Geographic Society's Explorer Hall,
the American Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Museum, the
Gilcrease Museum and the Royal Scottish Academy.
Even though he spent much of his time traveling, his daughter recalls
him being a good father.
"It was interesting being with him," she said. "He was into falconry,
and he would take us out with him. It was fun. None of our friends got
to do stuff like that."
He is survived by sons James Sloan of Grayslake, Ill., and Michael
Sloan of Saxesville, Wis.; daughters, Debbie Moore of Mundelein, Ill.,
Janet Hisel of Belvidere, Ill., and Susan Bowen of Stuart; seven
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; and a sister, Barbara Towle
of Fountain Hills, Ariz.
A gathering for friends and family will be from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Saturday at Forest Hills Funeral Home, Palm City.
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