Endangered species paintings on display at Zeitgeist

Painter Adam Swanson is brining awareness to endangered animals through his art which is now being shown at the zeitgeist.

Eight new paintings are currently on display depicting animals like the Monarch Butterfly facing their greatest dangers.

Swanson says, “I think it’s important just because it brings a little bit of awareness. I mean, I think it’s in a way to celebrate them and how pretty they. You know, we all probably have memories of those. But there is, you know, a little bit of danger there too, their habitats vanishing.”

Adam’s studio is deep in what he calls the middle of nowhere of Cloquet. He says with nature all around inspiration was easy to come by.

Overall the process was a long Swanson says, “I’d say it’s like a few months, maybe  even four or five. Just coming up with a concept, talking to experts. I like would interview people with the DNR, the aquarium, or, just people who knew stuff about these animals and try to put together like a concept for each animal that I had chosen.”

Then after the research comes the creating. “I’ll spend maybe up to a week on a specific painting, but there’s sort of a lot of push and pull. Sometimes I’ll just set it aside and look at it for a little while”, says Swanson.

The paintings are currently on display at the Zeitgeist and are also for sale.