The “Art Rangers” are trying to save our National Parks through an online, nonprofit art gallery that sells national park-inspired works of art where 100% of the proceeds are donated to the National Park Foundation, the official charity of the National Park Service, reports National Geographic.
Oscar Nilsson and Alex Tatem run the Art Rangers. “At its core, it’s artists using their art to help protect the parks, whether it’s photography, sculpture, oil painting, music, or whatever it is,” Nilsson says. “Anything really that has some kind of inspiration drawn from the national parks – we’re allowing those people to give back to the parks using their art.”
Artists around the world can submit their park-inspired art online, with the selected works added to the Art Rangers’ gallery.
The nonprofit doesn’t specify where funds go or how they’re used – that’s left to the National Parks Foundation, Nilsson says. But the project does offer a new way to give back. Since starting in July 2017, the Art Rangers have already surpassed the five-figure mark in fundraising.
“We’re trying to tell the more aspirational stories and show people and artists that have used the outdoors to turn their life around or turn their passions into a living,” he says. “There are so many nonprofits out there that do a really good job when it comes to conservation and knowing where assets will best fit, so what we’re trying to do is act as the bridge between the artists and the conservation efforts.”
Nilsson is a professional photographer and advertising creative, and Tatem is the founder of promotion company Escape the Routine. The two conceived the project during a “San Francisco at Midnight” pop-up gallery show they produced together two years ago.
Read more and see photos of all the National Parks here.
