“The Konik horses Special Feature represents years of observing and photographing these beautiful animals, resulting in a vast archive of images. This small selection shows some of their characteristics and a range of their daily activities.
Not included is a proportional number of photos where the Koniks are starving, dying or seriously injured; these were used for various presentations, including during a Conservation Conference in Vancouver (2015) and personally to the Dutch Government (2016), with the aim to demonstrate and address animal welfare and management issues.”
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Marinka Siebols was born in the Netherlands and grew up in England, where biology and art were her specialist subjects. Since an early age she had a passion for animals, and while working with them she began drawing their portraits. This led to countless commissions in Europe and America.
Championing nature conservation and animal charities throughout her life, Marinka decided to launch her own project (while living in America) dedicated to wild cats, learning how critically endangered so many of them were and still are. She produced graphite pencil drawings of many of the feline species and these formed the basis of a solo exhibition she held in Los Angeles. By publishing and selling a series of informative greeting cards from the drawings, she was able to help support various wild cat organisations in the USA, Canada, and Europe.
On her return to the Netherlands, Marinka began working with pastels and oil paints and expanded her body of work to include other wild animal species.
She exhibited annually at the renowned International ‘Wild in de Natuur’ exhibition in Enschede, where she won the Public Choice Trophy for Artist of the Year in 1996.
Throughout her career, she has held many more exhibitions. In the Netherlands they included ‘Katten in de Kunst’ in Rotterdam, ‘African Wildlife’ in The Hague, ‘Birdlife’, ‘Out of Africa’, ‘Tour des Chats’, ‘Natuurlijk Natuur’ and more solo exhibitions such as ‘Oog voor Natuur’ in Opheusden and ‘Close Encounters’ in Apeldoorn. Marinka has also exhibited in Germany and Spain.
Her work can be found in private collections in the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, the UAE, Australia and the USA.
As a life-long keen photographer, this passion also grew and led to freelance work. Unsurprisingly, animals and nature became her favourite and exclusive subjects, “It is pure bliss to discover new animal behaviour and characteristics that I’ve not seen or read about before, and it’s so interesting to get to know individual personalities - even of birds. Being able to capture an unusual or quirky antic with the camera is an extra delightful experience.”
Besides a variety of awards and prizes including an Award of Merit from the New York Institute of Photography, Marinka has a number of publications of her art and photography to her name.
ARTWORKS ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE.
PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FOR PUBLISHING.
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