Birgit and Robert Bateman along with Bob Skene, RRU acting president signing MOU

“I can’t conceive of anything more varied and rich and handsome than the planet Earth, and its crowning beauty is the natural world. I want to soak it up, to understand it as well as I can, and to absorb it.”

So says renowned artist and environmentalist Robert Bateman. In just a few years, thousands of people from around the world will be able to share his passion for the natural world at the Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre, to be constructed on the campus of Royal Roads University. Bateman and his wife, photographer Birgit Freybe Bateman, announced June 23 that they will donate an extensive collection of Robert Bateman’s original artwork and prints, Robert and Birgit Bateman’s photographs, and archival material such as sketch books and correspondence, to form the centre’s core collection.

They will also contribute to efforts to raise both capital and operating funds for the $10 million centre – for example through a series of art and prints celebrating the university’s picturesque campus.

The Paintings of Robert Bateman Read the artist’s descriptions of some of his works In the News The Bateman centre announcement garnered front-page attention in local, regional and national media. Read the stories or listen to the interview from CBC’s As it Happens.

“If I had tried to dream up the perfect fit between an institution and my art, my philosophy and my life, I could not have come up with a better connection than RRU,” said Bateman.

“Since the 1960s, I have been lamenting the disappearance of our natural heritage and our human heritage. The protection and the celebration of these two vital phenomena are at the core of RRU. The natural setting with its old growth forest, waterfalls and estuary perfectly blends with the historic gardens and buildings. The philosophy of RRU is to maintain and enhance the natural and human heritage, not only of the site but beyond into the larger world.”

Robert Bateman himself has stretched into the larger world. One of the world's most celebrated contemporary wildlife artists, his work reflects his commitment to ecology and conservation. He has contributed his artwork and limited edition prints to fundraising efforts that have raised millions of dollars for environmental organizations and causes. He has also used his celebrity to raise the profile of many wildlife and environmental organizations by serving as honorary member or director.

Like the work of Robert Bateman, the Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre will use art as a forum for raising awareness and increasing knowledge about environmental issues.

“We want to use art to create a more thoughtful relationship with nature and foster inspiration about and love for our natural and human heritage,” said Bateman.

In addition to Bateman’s work, the centre will host exhibits of other like-minded artists. It will offer educational programming and events, which will include guest lectures and seminars led by Bateman. It will also become the home of the new Canadian Centre for Environmental Education, a recently established partnership between RRU and The Environmental Careers Organization of Canada.

“The art of Robert Bateman provides a vital vehicle for the experience and appreciation of nature,” said Bob Skene, acting president and chairman of the board of governors of Royal Roads University. “The artwork and the educational activities at the centre will promote environmental understanding in the minds and, just as importantly, in the hearts of all the people who will come here.”

Working from the heart is at the core of Bateman’s approach to art.
 
“It may not necessarily be brilliantly executed, but ‘special’ means it comes from the heart and experience unique to you,” he explains on his website. “One definition of a masterpiece I have heard [is that] when you see it, you should feel you are seeing for the first time.”

While Bateman modestly claims not to have produced a masterpiece yet, people around the world disagree. His work is held in notable private and public art collections across the globe and has been exhibited in galleries as diverse at the Tryon Gallery in London and the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He has won numerous awards for both his art and his contributions to international conservation initiatives, the most recent being the inaugural Ideas for Life distinction from the Canadian Environment Awards. This award was created to recognize a Canadian whose work has increased environmental awareness through excellence in the arts, entertainment or design.

No doubt Bateman’s 20 years as a high school teacher of art and geography helped mould his philosophy that caring about the environment begins with getting to know nature and the other species who share the earth with humankind. Skene says this philosophy is aligned with the university’s work in exploring, modeling and disseminating expertise and knowledge about environmental education.

“We share with the Batemans the belief that educating people in formal and informal ways is crucial for developing an environmentally sustainable society,” said Skene. “Environmental stewardship is a learned skill that can be taught through experience, mentoring, action learning and action research. These are activities that take place throughout Royal Roads University and which will take place on a different level at the Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre.”

The university’s partnership with the Batemans came about as the result of lucky happenstance after Robert delivered a lecture to learners in the Master of Arts in Environmental Education and Communication in 2005. The Batemans, who have lived on nearby Saltspring Island for the past 20 years, had not been very familiar with the university until then.

“But they ‘got’ this place right away,” says Dan Spinner, executive director of the RRU Foundation. “They loved the site and they loved what we are doing, particularly with sustainability and environmentalism. We had heard they were considering some U.S. organizations to endow with their collection – and we thought it would be vital for the work of such a prominent Canadian to stay inside the country.”

Fortunately, the Batemans agreed. In Royal Roads University and its beautiful campus, the couple found the home they had been seeking to create their artistic and environmental legacy. The rest, as they say, is history.

Construction of the new centre is expected to get underway in late 2008 or early 2009, with the building opening in 2010, the year Bateman turns 80.

“It will be a great honour for me to know that a significant body of my work will be on permanent display to harmonize with – and perhaps stimulate – the work of Royal Roads,” said Bateman.

In a 2002 profile in Maclean’s magazine, writer Ken MacQueen described Bateman as “literally and figuratively, a voice in the wilderness.” Surely, though, with the artist’s high-profile environmental work around the world, a better description would be “a voice for the wilderness.” In fact, his is a voice for the entire natural world.

Certainly, with the Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre, that voice will ring out for generations to come.

Robert Bateman in front of his painting "Chief". Photo by Birgit Freybe Bateman.