This Issue:

Table of Contents

Cover Story

Grades 4-6

A Nose for the Arts

By Nicole Iorio

Move over, Madonna. Watch out, Picasso. There are new artists on the scene. They're smart. They're strong. And they've got trunks full of talent!

Asian elephants have entered the arts. Their paintings hang in museums, and a CD is now on sale. Elephants in Thailand are painting and performing as a way of securing their own survival. Profits from their work support an elephant-conservation center.

For years, Thailand's elephants were used to carry heavy logs from rain forests. But when logging was banned in 1989 to preserve forests, hundreds of elephants lost their jobs and even their homes. The elephants could not be returned to their habitat because so many forests had been destroyed. Some were reduced to wandering the streets of Bangkok, Thailand's capital, begging for food!

Russian-born artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid learned about the elephants' plight and decided to help. In 1998, they left their New York City homes for Thailand and set up the first elephant-art school in Lampang. Since then, the project has expanded to India and Bali. There are now about 100 elephant artists, and their paintings have sold for as much as $2,200!

Melamid says art lovers are drawn to the elephants' sweeping brushstrokes. Each elephant has his own painting style. Melamid has his favorites, but, he admits, "it's hard to tell whether it's the love for the personality or the art."

Strike up the Band
Inspired by the elephant painters, Richard Lair, director of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, decided to take the animals in a new artistic direction. Together with scientist and musician David Soldier, he assembled an elephant orchestra. The animals adapted well to playing instruments. "They're all bright young animals," says Lair. The talented pachyderms are now busy banging out their second CD.

Both Lair and Melamid are awed by the program's success. It has raised awareness of the need to protect Asia's shrinking elephant population. "For us, it's not about making breakthroughs in the art world," says Melamid. It's about helping these intelligent and sensitive creatures survive.

Next: A Patriotic Eagle Act