Cape Girardeau Nature Center displays local artists' nature-related pieces

Anne Berbling was the ideal volunteer for the Missouri Department of Conservation's Nature Center in Cape Girardeau when she started a year ago.

Her youngest of four children, Jon, was attending her alma mater, Southeast Missouri State University, and majoring in wildlife and conservation, hence her interest in becoming a volunteer. She since has helped with special events put on by the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, but something else sprouted naturally.

"When I did the volunteer training, they found out that I did art," Berbling said. And those familiar with the nature center know its facilitators have a keen interest in artwork. It adorns the walls in the entry that leads into the exhibits.

"We have some people that just stop by here every month to just check out the artwork," nature center manager Sara Turner said.

A lover of all things bugs and owner of a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Berbling jumped at the chance to have her art featured as one of the rotating monthly displays of wildlife found in Southeast Missouri.

Artist Anne Berbling shows her limited-edition, watercolored linoprint on display Saturday at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center.Fred Lynch

"I said, 'Yeah, it's right down my alley -- bugs and frogs and wildflowers,'" Berbling said.

Not only were they down her alley, they were on the walls of the nature center during August. This past Saturday, she was there in person to meet the public, her linoleum plates by her side -- one the head of a turtle she had carved, printed, painted with watercolors and framed on the wall. She also had prints of insects, photographs of frogs and colorful paintings of caterpillars.

Her exhibition was coming down in a few days, making way for an art collection of extinct birds of Missouri, drawn by longtime local conservation agent A.J. Hendershott and his daughter, Cheyenne, in September.

It's a transition time that strikes Turner as awkward.

"It's really interesting because sometimes in between exhibitors, there might be a day or so where there might be nothing on there, and the staff and I are like, 'Uchhh.' It's just plain concrete walls -- it's boring," Turner said. "We're just so used to there being something on there that if there's not, we don't like it."

Sara Turner, left, and artist Anne Berbling look at her photographs on display Saturday at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center.Fred Lynch

The nature center, at 2289 County Park Drive, has used the walls as a rotating gallery since opening in August 2005, and it's booked up for the rest of this year and all but the final two months of 2018.

"And that's without me even trying," Turner said. "People come in here and say, 'How do I get my work up?' and so they bring me some examples, and I make sure that it's nice quality."

You never know what will be hanging on the walls. Retired Cape Girardeau County conservation agent Steve Moore has displayed his feather collection he carved out of wood -- "They look real," Turner said; Louise Bodenheimer, a professor at Southeast, displayed her brightly colored depiction of native Missouri fish; and there has even been a quilt and afghan display.

They all have two things in common: They pertain to wildlife or species native to Missouri or are conservation-related, and they are wall-mountable.

Farm scenes featuring barns, silos or cows need not apply.

Sara Turner, left, and artist Anne Berbling look at her acrylic paintings of caterpillars Saturday on display at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center.Fred Lynch

"We want it to focus on wildlife, so wildlife conservation, plants," Turner said. "It can have people in it, but usually the people are fishing and interacting with nature in some fashion."

Two additional exhibits are featured annually in October and December, with the Mingo Swamp Friends Photography Contest winners and the Junior Duck Stamp winners, respectively.

A professional exhibit also will be on display in October, featuring the work of Noppadol Paothong, a photographer for the MDC whose work appears regularly in the Missouri Conservationist, a monthly publication.

Turner said most of the artwork is produced locally, but sometimes it is shared among the nature centers if the artist makes arrangements for shipping. There are four other large nature centers in the state and some smaller facilities.

"If [Anne] wanted to have her stuff exhibited to all the other nature centers in the state, I just email all the other nature-center managers some examples of her work and contact info," Turner said. "So several people have had their work go all over the entire state to all the nature centers."

Artist Anne Berbling poses for a photo Saturday at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center.Fred Lynch

The artists are not allowed to sell their work or put prices on them. Turner will distribute their business cards upon a patron's request, however.

"Really, this exhibiting is just an opportunity for people to think of wildlife in different ways and see that it inspires artists and photographers in a multitude of ways," Turner said.

Berbling, who grew up on a farm near Bloomfield, Missouri, said she put on a show once before in her hometown at the Sikeston Depot Museum. Most of her work is commissioned, with her brush painting portrayals of anything from wedding cakes to princesses.

"I paint whatever they want," Berbling said. "But if it's left up to me, I paint bugs and frogs and turtles."

jbreer@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3629

Pertinent address:

2289 County Park Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.