New Members of the Board
The RTP Board of Trustees is made up of 15 members whose responsibilities include oversight of the operations, but also strategic planning, policy development and governance. Two of our most recent members are Ted Arnn of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania and John Seerey-Lester of Osprey, Florida. For their biographies and a list of our other members of the board please go to www.rtpi.org/ rtpi-board. Welcome to the Board Ted & John!
E. Thomas Arnn (Ted)
Ted Arnn is from Gibsonia, Pennsylvania and is a past employee of the U.S. Department of Commerce where he worked in the International Trade Division. Ted graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. Ted also served in the U.S. Navy.
Ted was with the U.S. Department of Commerce/Commercial Service for 11 years where he was involved with the Information Technology Team. As part of this team he worked on projects to better use Information Technology in the Commercial Service. He has a BS in Natural Science from The University of Pittsburgh as well as additional academic credits in the fields of Accounting, Metallurgy, Manufacturing Process and Computer Science.
Besides the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, Ted’s affiliations include Chautauqua Institution where he lives part of the year, the Heinz History Center, USA Sailing and the Antique and Classic Boat Society.
John Seerey-Lester
With work hanging at the White House and in permanent, private and Museum collections, throughout the world, John Seerey-Lester has become one of the most renowned wildlife and historic artists in the world today.
Since moving to America over 25 years ago, and making it his base of operation, he has continued to travel the world in search of images. Preferring to paint from life, he has visited such diverse locations as Africa, China (where he painted the rare Giant Panda in the wild), India, The Arctic and Antarctica as well as Central and South America. It was a visit to East Africa over 30 years ago that gave birth to his interest in wildlife. Published by Mill Pond Press, John has had over 350 different limited edition prints produced over the years.
Before this, in his native England, John gained enormous popularity through his paintings of nostalgic scenes of Victorian and Edwardian times. Now he has combined that early fascination for historic themes with his continuing interest in wildlife to capture in paint, the golden age of the White Hunter and the hunting heritage of North America. In a new series of paintings, John is revisiting the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in what is becoming his most successful work.
John has gained a reputation over the years for producing images with a mysterious and a mystical appeal, now he has taken this skill to produce a remarkable series of paintings depicting historic hunts and safari legends.
John has received many awards and much recognition for his outstanding achievements in the field of wildlife art. He was presented to His Royal Highness Prince Phillip and was commended for his work in conservation. He has been chosen to exhibit works in the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s “Birds in Art” and “Wildlife: An Artist’s View”, shows each year since 1983 and his paintings are in their permanent collection. He has also displayed in several other Museums such as the Gilcrease Museum, and National Museum of Wildlife Art, and in many other permanent collections such as Bennington Center for the Arts, and Nature in Art Museum. John was Artist of the Year and featured artist for: South Eastern Wildlife Expo, Miniature ’85, Pac Rim Wildlife Art Show, Florida Wildlife Expo, 7th Annual South East Invitational Miniature Show , Celebration Weekend and presented with the Key to the City of Troy Ohio, Reflections of Nature to name a few. John was presented with the Award of Excellence and the Patricia Allen Bott Award for his Mara River Horse (2002), and again in (2006) for “White On White” by the Society of Animal Artists.
John is on the board of directors of The Roger Torrey Peterson Institute, and has a bi-monthly column in Sporting Classics. You will frequently find his stories and paintings in numerous magazines like Sarasota Magazine, Dallas Safari Club’s GameTrails, the NRA’s American Rifleman, as well as Informart, African Hunter, Sports Afield, Wildlife Art, Western and American Art Collectors. He is a member of The Society of Animal Artists, Artists for Conservation, Oil Painters of America, and a founding member of Southern Plein Air Artists and The PhArtists (a band of merry photographers and artists)
A book on his life and work was released in November 1991. The book, Face to Face with Nature: The Art of John Seerey-Lester, sold out in 1995. A second book titled Impressions of India and Nepal, based on his fieldwork there, was published soon after. His more recent book Painting Wildlife with John Seerey-Lester, which was published in 2003, has also sold out. His book “Useppa A Passage in Time” was published in October 2007. “Useppa” won a Silver Medal for its images and outstanding historical content.
Now, in his award winning book, Legends of the Hunt, he shares his passion for wildlife in a stunning gallery of 105 paintings depicting the greatest sportsmen and explorers between the years of 1849 and 1933. His riveting stories and images bring to life their legendary adventures, from life-and-death encounters with dangerous game to bizarre happenings that defy explanation. In more than 80 stories, he will take you along with Colonel Sheldon as he trails a grizzly in Alaska, with Teddy Roosevelt when he first sees Africa and Jim Corbett when he comes face to face with a tiger in India. You will relive Hemingway’s quest to bag a kudu on his first safari and be there when Frederic Selous is almost killed by a rogue elephant.
Legends of the Hunt is for anyone who remembers the distant roar of a lion on an African night, the welcome smell of a north country campfire, or the taste of dust as you trek through the scrub in the equatorial heat. John Seerey-Lester wants you to smell that smoke, taste that dust and hear that lion when you look at his paintings and read his stories.
Altogether it’s a remarkable journey – one that you will treasure always.
Today he lives in Florida, with his wife and fellow award winning wildlife artist Suzie whom he married in January 2000 on Useppa Island, in Southwest Florida.
