Category — Painting

A painting, titled Iris, was painted by Tarra, an elephant living at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

The Tribune Democrat

An interview with David Ferris, Director of the Asian Art & Conservation Project. The project trains elephants to paint and money raised by the art is used to support the elephants and provide them with better care.

GreenMuze

All elephant lovers know that one of the amazing things about elephants is that they can paint and that they enjoy it. Here is the list of all the articles about elephants and painting indexed on this site.

Here is a video of an elephant painting. I am truly amazed at what the elephant creates.

A great book about elephant painting is When Elephants Paint : The Quest of Two Russian Artists to Save the Elephants of Thailand. The authors set up the Thai Elephant Art School and taught the elephants how to paint, which the elephants enjoy, auction the painting and use the proceeds for elephant conservations efforts. How cool is that?

If you are interested in purchasing this book, clicking on the link below will help support this site.

When Elephants Paint: The Quest of Two Russian Artists to Save the Elephants of Thailand
—

If you are interested in purchasing a painting created by an elephant the Elephant Art Gallery sells abstract paintings created by elephants. The Elephant Art Gallery is affiliated with the National Elephant Institute in Thailand.

photo credit: Cybjorg

“The elephants recycled phone books by creating works of art on them.” – KTKA.com

“Shot at the Ichihara Elephant Kingdom near Tokyo, it shows one-year-old Yumeka adding the finishing touches to what appears to be a flower. The zoo manager says that although many elephants have been taught to paint by humans, Yumeka began to show talent for painting without training.” – New Scientist Short Sharp Science Blog:

“An elephant couple in a zoo in Japan have been teaching their baby how to paint.” – ITN

“The trainers also feel that the confidence of the parent elephants’ painting skills will help coax the daughter to want to paint too.” – Newsradio 630

“Noppakhao paints to earn an income for him and his owner.” – Yahoo! News Photos

“Paintings by elephants? Yes! And the huge mammals with their powerful trunks and floppy ears have even had a showing of their own, in Beijing. The elephant’s trunks are applied as distinctive brushes.” – CCTV International

“Zoo keepers watch African elephant ‘Sweni’, as she paints a picture during a presentation for photographers at Wuppertal zoo June 6, 2008″ – Yahoo! News Photos

“Sooky’s art will be for sale at an upcoming Tulsa Zoo benefit” – Tulsa World

“In this photo provided by Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Taj, a 68-year-old female Asian elephant, takes paintbrush to canvas at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif., on Thursday, May 8, 2008.” – Yahoo! News Photos

“This painting pachyderm is far from the only artistic animal in captivity. For years zoos and aquariums across the country have encouraged animals to paint as a way to keep the penned-up denizens mentally enriched. Typically, the paintings were discarded or set aside.” – Los Angeles Times

“Brittany wields her paintbrush with confidence, slapping it roughly against the canvas to produce streaks of green or smears of orange. With apparent pride, she steps back, inspects her work — and extends her trunk to receive a freshly loaded paintbrush.” – Herald News

“Brittany wields her paintbrush with confidence, slapping it roughly against the canvas to produce streaks of green or smears of orange. With apparent pride, she steps back, inspects her work – and extends her trunk to receive a freshly loaded paintbrush.
” – DailyComet.com

“At the Academy for Elephants in Thailand, they are teaching elephants to paint. In a video titled “Elephant Paints Own Self-Portrait,” you can see one of the elephants hard at work with a paintbrush in its trunk.” – The Daily Cardinal

“It may not be a lot of them, but Thai elephants paint. And one really should not be surprised, says Thai ambassador to Jamaica Snanchart Devahastin, who recently presented his credentials.” – Jamaica Observer

“Times are tough for Thai elephants. They used to earn their keep in the lumbering business, but machinery took over. ” – Sun-Sentinel.com