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DeVere Burt

DeVere Burt draws artistic inspiration from an academic and professional background in the natural sciences that focuses on landscapes, and endangered vertebrates. Recently he combined these two interests with a life long interest in John James Audubon’s amazing accomplishments. Burt has created and produced for exhibition and tour, “Audubon’s River”, a portfolio of 56 paintings inspired by Audubon’s life. They are used to illustrate a lecture given by Burt about the artist. Included in the portfolio are paintings inspired by Audubon’s work in Florida in 1831 and 1832, and his search for the Great Auk and Labrador Duck along the coast of Labrador in 1833. Additional paintings relate to Audubon’s last expedition up the  Missouri River in 1843 to research North American mammals for a new book.

 

Burt also founded the Masterworks for Nature group. This hard working group of wildlife and landscape artists has worked in league with nonprofit conservation organizations to raise nearly 1.7 million in gross receipts for educational and wildlife management projects around the Midwest.
He has won numerous awards and his art can be found in museum, corporate, institutional, and private collections.

 

Burt is no pretender when it comes to participation in wildlife conservation, natural area preservation, and protection of  endangered species.

 

He was a regional Vice President for the Nature Conservancy directing its interests across a nine state area, from Michigan to Texas. He was a field biologist for the Antarctic Research Program (studying the breeding biology of Adelie Penguins), a biological illustrator working for the Field Museum, Iowa State University, and NAMRU3 in Cairo Egypt. He was President, and CEO of one the Midwest’s largest museums, overseeing the field research of curators, and adjunct curators in North America, and around the world. While at the museum, he and fellow artist John Ruthven participated in two expeditions to search for rare birds, both known from only one record. He has accompanied John Ruthven on 8 trips to the Choctawhatchee River on Florida’s panhandle in search of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. All of these experiences have inspired him artistically.

 

Burt is a member of the Society of Animal Artists, founder of the Masterworks for Nature group, founding trustee of the Susan Kathleen Black Foundation, trustee of The Cincinnati Nature Center, Director Emeritus of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science, and a Commissioner for Great Parks of Hamilton County.