Trailside Galleries is pleased to welcome the Society of Animal Artists with a special exhibition and sale featuring more than 80 juried painters and sculptors. The show will be on exhibit from August 1 - 31, 2017.

The Society of Animal Artists (SAA), founded in 1960, is devoted to promoting excellence in the artistic portrayal of the creatures sharing our planet, and to the education of the public through art exhibitions, informative seminars, lectures and teaching demonstrations. The Society of Animal Artists has an historical affinity with organizations that grew out of a movement to form associations and clubs dedicated to art in the 19th century. Like the National Academy of Design and other such organizations, the Society of Animal Artists is mandated by its bylaws to organize annual exhibitions to ensure new, strong and fresh artwork and afford its members with ample display opportunities.

In the 1950s, individuals from the New York metropolitan area who liked to meet and paint at the Bronx Zoo together staged "Animals in the Bronx Zoo" at the Burr Gallery sponsored by the New York Zoological Society. Patricia Allen Bott and Guido Borghi were inspired to form the organization after an enthusiastic reception to this exhibition. The fledgling Society soon became a member of the renowned Salmagundi Club, and established an office in their building at 47 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. Early Exhibitions were held in various galleries such as Sportsman’s Edge, Grand Central Art Galleries and the Alder Gallery (All in New York City).

In addition to Bott and Borghi, early members included: Elizabeth Rungius Felda [Sister of Carl Rungius], Paul Bransom, John Clymer, Gifford Cochran, Brenda Frey, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Gertude K. Lathrop, Robert Lougheed, Ugo Mochi, Clement Weisbecker and Walter Wilwerding.

Since 1963, Trailside Galleries of Jackson, Wyoming and Scottsdale, Arizona has been regarded as one of the pre-eminent dealers in American representational art, specializing in a rich and varied collection of works by the leading western, wildlife, figurative, impressionist, and landscape artists in the country. The artist roster includes members of the Cowboy Artists of America, National Academy of Design, Oil Painters of America, Plein-Air Painters of America, Prix De West, Society of Animal Artists, National Sculpture Society and Masters of the American West.