About SAFSI

The Society of Animal, Floral and Scientific Illustrators (SAFSI) was established with the purpose of uniting the already existing community of artists, working in these fields of art. Groups of artists, united by common ideas and similar philosophic and artistic understanding and not concrete individuals increasingly stand out on the stage of artistic life in recent years and even decades. This experience shows that it is such projects, posing supra-individual goals that enjoy success and great interest. In the field of art, inspired by living nature, as well as by the issues related to environmental protection, such grouping of artists is widespread and has a tradition in the USA and in some European countries. In Bulgaria in recent decades the number of artists, focused on the depiction of plants and animals and of those, working exclusively in the closely specialized field of scientific illustration is increasing. More and more young artists start working in these areas, gaining experience and knowledge. After being displaced by photography for a short period of time, scientific illustration is actually back as an established and most functional approach to the exemplification of scientific works. Publishers invest in author illustrations when striving to achieve high quality and prestige. The National Academy of Art (NAA) introduces a separate MA program for scientific illustration. A large number of young artists are interested in it and they revive drawing from nature, the truthful and accurate reproduction of the visible world and are mostly inspired precisely by nature, plants, animals. Public interest in such manifestations of contemporary art is also growing. They are more and more often present in the exhibition halls and galleries. This intensive development has been observed only in the last few years. For this reason the number of artists with longer experience and also with undeniable contribution to the development and promotion of these areas of art in our country is still not great and is clearly outlined. One of the main objectives of SAFSI is namely to unite these artists and outline their role in the said processes. The society is also open to young artists, who see their future in such a field of work and development.