Extinction

​

Douglas Aja began sculpting and casting in bronze in the late 1990s, combining his lifelong interests in wildlife and art. He focuses on African wildlife, specializing in elephants.

 

Many of his elephant sculptures are of known individuals from Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. These elephants are the most celebrated wild elephants in the world, having been studied by Cynthia Moss and her research team (Amboseli Elephant Research Project) since 1972. He has been a longtime supporter of Amboseli Elephant Research Project as well as Joyce Poole's ElephantVoices, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Action for Cheetahs Kenya.

Recently, he designed and sculpted three bas relief plaques for Laikipia Wildlife Forum. These plaques are given to LWF donors in their highest three donor categories.

 

A portion of the sales proceeds are donated to these organizations. His bronze sculptures are in the private collections of elephant researchers Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole, wildlife cinematographer Martyn Colbeck, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Bennington Center for the Arts and NBA great and Basketball Hall of Famer Sam Jones.

 

Travelling to Africa for the first time in 1978, Doug took part in a wilderness education program with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). There he studied wilderness and mountaineering skills, outdoor leadership, minimum impact camping and Kenya's culture. He continues to visit East Africa regularly to take photos, gather reference material and to further his knowledge and understanding of his subjects. He often backpacks on Mount Kenya, through Maasailand and has climbed Kilimanjaro.

​

http://www.natureartists.com/douglas_aja.asp