To celebrate and raise funds for their work, non-profit organizations often commission the creation of art work to give to their contributors. In this post I note 7 examples of such promotional art that feature the California condor.
For many years, the National Wildlife Federation produced “conservation stamps”. This stamp from 1970, designed by wildlife artist Chuck Ripper, features an adult condor striking an impressive pose:
The same year, the National Wildlife Federation produced a medallion with what appears to be a California condor on one side:
This medallion is the size of a US silver dollar. I have not been able to learn the name of the artist who created the condor image.
The National Audubon Society also produced conservation stamps. The detail-rich issue for 1995, designed by wildlife artist Michael Warren, included condors on 3 of its 5 panels:
The stamp at upper right, showing a golden eagle feeding on a carcass while a condor waits nearby, conveys a lesson in natural history: when golden eagles and condors both find a carcass, the golden eagle eats first.
It is not only conservation organizations that celebrate the California condor. The Heartland Coin Club produced a “giant penny” marking an anniversary of the club’s founding:
I appreciate the caption “returning to the wild”, a reminder that the condor’s recovery is an ongoing, not a completed, process. This coin is the size of a US silver dollar.
The Ventana Wildlife Society, the organization responsible for managing the California condor populations along the central California coast and in Pinnacles National Park, offers substantial bronze plaques to its donors. These plaques are created, cast, and donated by artist Ramon Velazco and foundry Decker Studios. Here are 2 showing the California condor:
The upper plaque is about the size of a smartphone. The lower plaque is about 4 times larger and heavy enough to ring like a bell.
Finally, from the February 1987 issue of Zoonooz, the magazine of the San Diego Zoo, is an advertisement for a porcelain sculpture of a condor chick:
The order form accompanying this advertisement indicates that 30% of the purchase price was allocated to support condor recovery efforts at the zoo.
These small art works, created over a span of several decades, have and continue to raise awareness of and encourage participation in the efforts to save the endangered California condor.
Pseudogryps 