Artists Paint Unique Images of Nature
Article by Bob Sopuck - Winnipeg Free Press May 8, 2004

We all look at nature through different “lenses” based on our perceptions, life experiences, and training. Two people observing the same natural phenomenon would each see the same scene in completely different ways.

My scientific background usually takes over and I’m forever counting the number of birds in a flock or trying to understand why certain animals show up in certain habitats. I examine fish stomachs to see what they are eating and the “crop” of every grouse I get is always opened and the contents analyzed.

Artists see the natural world quite differently. This was brought home to me when I was fly-fishing on Tokaryk Lake with Manitoba artist, Andrew Giffin. Giffin was recently the featured artist at the exclusive New York dinner of the Atlantic Salmon Federation and is making quite an impression in the world of “sporting art.” He’s also a talented landscape artist.

Giffin pointed to a shoreline covered in trees and shrubs and asked me, “Bob, how many shades of green do you see?”

Well, I looked and looked. I mean green is green, right? Wrong! When I answered “Three or four, Andrew,” he just laughed. “Bob, there are at least THIRTY different greens on that shoreline alone.”

Jim Rataczak is a Minnesota-based artist with an abiding passion for painting birds especially waterfowl. He often visits Manitoba’s Delta Marsh, as a guest of the Delta Waterfowl Foundation, where many artists like Sir Peter Scott, Albert Hochbaum, and Peter Ward have done some of their finest work.

Rataczak described his artistic origins in very simple terms. “I was born an artist and have been drawing birds since I could walk.” He added that, “For me, art is my way of possessing the bird as opposed to just watching it.” Rataczak is also an avid bird hunter and uses the specimens he collects to further his knowledge of bird colours and anatomy.

He has degrees in ornithology but left the world of science while starting a PhD program with the Delta Waterfowl Foundation. Rataczak was so overwhelmed by the birds of the area that he right then and there turned his art into a career. What science lost the art world gained. He now oversees Delta’s art mentorship program which is supported by the Weston Foundation.

When I asked him about how he views the world, as opposed to a non-artist like me, he thought a while before he answered.

“I guess it relates to the ever-changing nature of the natural world. I may look at the same scene day after day, but I see new and exciting aspects each time, “he noted. “It’s nature’s constant change that thrills me whether it’s the seasons, the skies, the birds, or the lakes.”

Now we’ve all seen waterfowl paintings and after a while they seem to have a certain “sameness” to them. The birds are viewed from the ground and painted against the sky with a marsh in the background. Rataczak has turned that completely around by painting the birds from above which poses special challenges because, as he pointed out, “Who ever sees birds from above?” Good point.

The aerial view makes for stunning paintings that give the birds the prominence and drama that they deserve. It all made sense when Rataczak confided that, as the son of an airline pilot, he’s used to looking at the natural world from above.

I had the pleasure last summer of assisting him with one of those paintings. It was of one of my special local waterfowl hunting spots that was nicknamed “Humble Pass” by the late Dick Wilson of that famous Winnipeg company, Wilson’s Furniture. On that day Dick, who was a very fine shot, was missing almost all of the birds as they barrelled through the pass with the “afterburners” on. “This is a very humble pass,” he sighed and the name stuck.

Delta trustee, George Nolte of California had a similar experience and decided to commission Rataczak to paint Humble Pass. With characteristic attention to detail Rataczak paddled out to the pass, set out decoys, and photographed it from all angles. We were fortunate that Parks Canada was doing helicopter surveys in the area so we were able to hire their  “chopper” for a couple of hours so he could hover over Humble Pass to get, well, that “birds eye view.” He even made little clay models of flying bluebills, the ducks featured in the painting, in his Minnesota studio and looked at them from behind and above to get it just right.

The result is a spectacular painting that literally takes your breath away. For me the piece exemplifies what waterfowl hunting and waterfowl conservation are all about. I won’t tell you where Humble Pass is but we all have those kinds of special, secret places, don’t we? My place is now immortalized.

Robert D. Sopuck is a Vice-President with the Delta Waterfowl Foundation, a member of the Wildlife Information Network of Manitoba.