Exceptional Shark and Ocean Themed Art Exhibition Will Kick Off
The Sint Maarten Nature Foundation will be organizing its first Shark and Ocean themed Art Exhibition at the Axum Art Café on the 8th of June 2018 as part of St Maarten Shark Week. The Art Exhibition will be the kick off event for this year’s Shark Week, which will be held from the 8th until the 16th of June 2018.
Sharks are the most misunderstood animals on the planet and are repeatedly displayed as villains and being dangerous. However, the species are actually the victims of human impacts such as poaching, finning, overfishing and irresponsible coastal development pressure. Worldwide over 100 million sharks are killed per year resulting in half of all shark species being threatened or endangered with extinction. It is important that the community work together to ensure the survival of local, regional and global shark populations. Therefore the Nature Foundation is trying to bring this awareness to the public by organizing the annual Shark Week activities.
“The Art Exhibition will showcase the beauty of our oceans and sharks in a very creative way with all the featured art work being made by local artists. The submitted art works are of high quality and very diverse, including a beautiful submission from a seven year old artist. The exhibition will start at 7pm and there will be plenty of time to adore the different art works and all arts works will be up for sale,” stated Ménélik Arnell Manager of the Axum Art Café.
“The Axum Art Café in Phillipsburg is a perfect place for this exceptional exhibition and we are hoping that many people will come out to enjoy the event in order to support our local artists. We also hope that attendees will purchase the beautiful art works and several artists also decided to donate their profits to the Nature Foundation,” stated Nature Foundation’s Project Officer Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern.
During all Shark Week events people will have the opportunity to support Nature Foundation’s shark research by naming a tagged shark or by adopting their own shark! Also during the events 4Ocean bracelets and reusable bags can be purchased to help protect St Maarten’s environment and nature. St Maarten Shark Week is part of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance ‘Save our Sharks’ project funded by the Dutch National Postcode Lottery.