March Featured Artists: SLOPE Artists

SLOPE was co-found­ed by Eliz­a­beth Tol­ley and Karen Fos­ter with the encour­age­ment of Nan­cy Warn­er of the San Luis Obis­po Nature Conservancy.

The first paint-out was in May 1993 on the Sur Sur Ranch. From April 1994 to May 1994 the paint­ings of the Sur Sur and Ven­tana Ranch­es were exhib­it­ed in the Ray­burn House Build­ing and in the U.S. For­rest Ser­vice Office in Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Con­gress­man Sam Farr and the Trust for Pub­lic Lands host­ed a recep­tion for the exhib­it. The paint­ings were then shown at the Nation­al For­est Build­ing. Fol­low­ing this, the Sen­ate appro­pri­at­ed funds to com­plete the pur­chase of the ranch­es, which are now part of the Los Padres Nation­al Forrest.

In March 1994 paint­ings cre­at­ed in the Elfin For­rest of Los Osos and oth­er areas of San Luis Obis­po Coun­ty were exhib­it­ed to raise addi­tion­al funds for S.W.A.P. (Small Wilder­ness Area Preser­va­tion) to pur­chase the Elfin Forrest. 

In April 1994 the SLOPE painters joined the Oak Group (painters of San­ta Bar­bara Coun­ty) and the Nature Con­ser­van­cy to exhib­it paint­ings of the Car­ri­zo Plain. The group raised funds for the Guy L. Good­win Edu­ca­tion Cen­ter in the Car­ri­zo Plain. 

Since then the group has cre­at­ed hun­dreds of paint­ings and raised thou­sands of dol­lars for local non­prof­its to aid in pro­tect­ing trea­sured lands in and around San Luis Obis­po Coun­ty, California.

More infor­ma­tion Here