March Program – DeVere Burt on John James Audubon

Our March program will be held on Tuesday, March 19 at 7p.m. at the Sharon Woods Visitor Center, located at 11450 Lebanon Road, Sharonville, Ohio 45241.

We will feature DeVere Burt, telling us about John James Audubon.

As a college student from Iowa, DeVere Burt found several new species of fleas in the Antarctic. After this prelude to a remarkable career, DeVere went on to serve as an illustrator for the Naval Medical Research Unit in Cairo, the regional vice president for the Nature Conservancy in the Midwest, and as the CEO of the Cincinnati Museum Center. Under his leadership the Museum led expeditions around the world, began research that continues today, and moved into Union Terminal.

Throughout it all, DeVere also remained devoted to art, taking pencil and paint to paper and canvas. His works illustrated Museum publications and are widely displayed in collections; he is a member of the Society of Animal Artists; and he helped found of the Masterworks for Nature Group. He also studied John James Audubon.

DeVere found that although Audubon’s thirst for art and adventure may have been unparallelled, Audubon was constantly beset with the arduous challenge of earning a living. During Audubon’s working life in the first half of the 1800’s, bank failures and other economic crises complicated the task. Some of Audubon’s business decisions have in turn complicated our world today.

One of John James Audubon’s earliest jobs was with the Cincinnati natural history museum. In a circle of life, DeVere will sketch out the rest of the story of America’s most renowned naturalist.