Sandy Scott has shot thousands of African wildlife. Of course, when she's shooting lions, cheetahs and elephants, it's with a Nikon.
"You know, a picture really is worth a thousand words," Scott said.
A member of Artist Ambassadors Against Poaching, the wildlife artist is hoping the sculptures she crafted using photos from a 2013 African safari will be worth a life.
A recent trip to a wildlife preserve in Tanzania was a life-changing one for Scott, who was invited to go by the group's founder, Jan Martin McGuire.
"You can't help but be changed when you see evidence in the field, like we did, of an elephant carcass that has been poached," Scott said. "Knowing that, in my lifetime, these animals will be poached into extinction just so the Chinese can have their ivory is just so… It's a killer."
After returning from the safari, Scott called up Columbine Gallery in Loveland, where she frequently shows her work. Immediately gallery owners John and Alyson Kinkade were on board with the idea for a fundraising show – and A Weekend for Elephants was born.
"Every 15 minutes an elephant in Africa is killed for its ivory," Alyson Kinkade said. "And I know (poaching is) a huge problem, not just for elephants."
The death of Zimbabwe's beloved Cecil the Lion has re-ignited the debate about trophy hunting. Zimbabwe authorities said the 13-year-old lion was lured from a protected park, and then killed by an American trophy hunter, who paid local trackers $50,000 for the hunt.
Although, the issue with Cecil appears to have been an illegal act that was "abhorrent," Scott, a hunter herself when she's home in Wyoming, fears that the issue of trophy hunting will get confused with poaching.
There are responsible conservation groups that use limited trophy hunting opportunities to support anti-poaching efforts, she said.
Proceeds from the Loveland show will go to the Tanzanian Ivory Orphans' Sanctuary, the Columbine Gallery's Alyson Kinkade said. It's the country's first official refuge for elephant calves and other baby animals orphaned due to poaching.
"We often like to celebrate what our artists are passionate about… and Sandy is obviously very passionate about this issue," she said.
Artist Ambassadors Against Poaching features nine artists from around the globe working to bring awareness to the ongoing poaching crisis in Africa. The artists have pledged to help the African Wildlife Trust's efforts in saving the African Elephant through their art, speaking engagements, museum exhibitions and gallery sales.
While Loveland is a long way from Africa, Kinkade hopes art fans attending the show during the National Sculptors' Guild Art Exhibition and Sale will walk away with a few things.
"Hopefully some art," Kinkade said. "And being part of the solution in buying that artwork. Maybe just a little more awareness of what's happening globally. We always get caught up in what's happening around here – which, there's a lot of endangered animals around here as well… But just to be aware of products that they may be purchasing and not even knowing that it's supporting poaching in some way."
Even in the art world.
Carved ivory artworks are a big industry in China, Kinkade said, referencing an image on the gallery's website of a car in China covered in a huge, carved ivory dragon that represents the lives of an estimated 100 elephants.
There's another way to celebrate the beauty of wild animals, Kinkade said.
"Our artists… they went on a safari as well," she said. "But they took cameras instead of guns. And they're making artwork in a different way. Something that's not going to necessarily 'take out' an animal but hopefully just honor it, instead."
