All posts by Karim Zanaty

The ISL offers learning tracks tailored to art and design. Up until grade 9, students are free to explore art at their own pace, but after that, they can actively choose their desired path and dive deeper into creating art. Bram, an art teacher at ISL, regularly invites local artists to present their work and share the motivation behind it. Although this wasn’t my first talk, it was the first time I presented my artwork specifically in front of an audience—ranging from grade 6 up to grade 11.

As an artist who did not attend art school, I focused on my personal journey, showing pictures of my artwork from age 7 until now and highlighting how my techniques developed (or, in some cases, didn’t develop) over time. It was about exploring art at my own pace in the areas that interested me most. I have to admit—it was a journey for myself as well. Looking back at my old styles and approaches, some dating back over 20 years, was quite an experience!

During Q&A sessions, we discussed favorite dinosaurs and animals, making a living from art, selling artwork, different painting techniques, and much more. During my last session of the day, one of the art teachers and some students took time to draw while I was speaking. It was a joy to see them simply enjoying the process of drawing, free from pressure or expectations!

Here are some impressions from that day:

Thanks for having me! It was a pleasure.

But first things first…

In autumn 2024, I worked on my first virtual gallery for a local art community in Trier, Germany. This project helped make the annual exhibition more accessible to a wider audience. As the annual exhibition gradually came to an end, I had an idea: why not do the same thing again—but this time, for artwork that is rarely found in one physical space? Paleoart. The passion that connects me with so many people around the world.

You can usually view paleoart on individual artists’ social media accounts, but how much time does the average person spend looking closely at the details?

I began reaching out to artists I follow on social media—some of whom I had met in 2024, and others whose artistic journeys I had simply followed social media over the last couple of years.

In the end, 23 artists (24 including myself) contributed and trusted me with their artwork. The exhibition includes traditional and digital paintings and drawings, 3D models and animations, pottery, tattoos, and even a poem. I couldn’t be happier with the diversity of styles and artistic expressions featured in the gallery!

The Opening Event!

I planned an online vernissage to chat with the exhibiting artists about their work and gain fresh inspiration.

Whenever I attend an art-related event, I always enjoy seeing workshops and presentations. So it didn’t take long before I started searching for at least one talk to include in the event. It would be a great starting point for questions and discussions and would frame the overarching theme: Where and why is paleoart necessary?

It took me a while until I got a hint to contact Ben Miller. Ben Miller is working as an exhibition developer at the Field Museum Chicago. He was more than willing to give a presentation about his work and the importance of paleoart in exhibition development. How amazing is that?!

During his talk, Ben gave us incredible insights into his work—how exhibitions were prepared decades ago and how he now approaches new exhibitions as a storyteller. He shared details about some of the museum’s major projects, including those featuring Sue the T. rex and Archaeopteryx. I was particularly impressed by the attention to detail—many elements that most people might overlook but that all of us will now actively seek out in natural history museums!

Ben emphasized that artwork and composition are what visitors remember most. Out of 20 people, 95% remembered the animations, models, and artistic details way more than the fossil, whereas only 60% of them mentioned the fossil itself.

His talk highlighted just how much effort and how many people are involved in bringing every exhibition to life, and he conveyed it beautifully!

The presentation was followed by an open Q&A about his way to this job, how to be seen and contracted as an artist, and further collaborations.

And the discussions kept going. Despite having breakout rooms and various art panels across the virtual space, we stayed as a group in one area. We got to know each other much better and who each person behind the incredible artworks is. We learned about our backgrounds and gained insight into our artistic journeys.

Not only did I meet new people and see new faces, but I also learned a lot and formed new connections I’d love to maintain.

This event brought together people from all over the world—Europe, the US, Asia, and Australia. Some sacrificed sleep, but it was amazing to have them there (and to see the sun rising in Australia 😉 ).

At midnight, after 5 hours of talking, we finally called it a night, and I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out.

This day got me thinking – what if we had more of this? More talks for and by paleoartists? A rotating selection of artists/exhibits in the virtual gallery? There is a lot to think about.

But for now, I am grateful to have connected so many people from around the world.

And here is the visitor map from the gallery’s opening day:

Thanks a lot to all the artists, it would not be happening without you:

Alyssa Fjeld, Amanda Perry, Astrid O’Connor, Brian Murphy, Chloe Watson, Christian Gerisch, Emily Higgs, Emma Still, Gwendoline Zerwetz, James Pascoe, Joschua Knüppe, Júlia d’Oliveira, Karim Zanaty, Nathan Dehaut, Nicole Flack, Nikita Griffioen, Pia Etzel, Renzo Alejandro Garavito Camacho, Rudolf Hima, Sandra Hähle, Sarah Wittig, Sissy Böhm, Stavros Svensson Kundromichalis, Tondelier Wyland

A lot of galleries took part to celebrate art with artist coming from Germany and Luxembourg. Like last year, I’ve spent my time being in the exhibition of the Kulturwerkstatt Trier to talk about my artwork and get in contact with people.

We organized some special activities and other things to celebrate this special event.

40 for 20

40 pieces for 20€ each. Great art for small prices. This was the motto of a wall at which we hang 40 20×20 cm MDF boards. Every board was turned into a unique artwork to buy for 20€.

Here are my contributions:

Unfortunately, I do not have a finished image of the last one

Art talks

At 7, 8, and 9 pm, Nelly Stockburger gathered all interested people and gave the present artists a chance to talk about their art, their motivation and their view on the Kulturwerkstatt.

As always, this is a good opportunity to discuss the techniques and motivations in more depth and to contact the local artists.

Make your own art

Throughout the evening, all visitors had the chance to create their own art and take a photograph of themselves with the end result back home. Gabbro Kokkot labels herself as a photo-poet with a focus on daily-life poesy.

Overall, it was a successful evening with valuable insights and feedback and the visitors highly appreciated these event! 🙂

I am lucky and really proud to say that my Pangolin raised £320 to support wildlife conservation projects all over the world! I am happy that it found a new home.

And I am trying to be back next year with a new drawing or painting!

If you would like to support wildlife conservation for a lower price – my signed art prints of that painting just dropped! 50% of all proceeds going towards ExplorersAgainstExtinction.

When we arrived around 6.30 pm the gallery was already filled with a few people. I was very nervous about that evening as this was my first time attending such an event. But, Robert welcomed us immediately and so sincere which created a friendly and calming atmosphere right from the beginningand. We grabbed ourselves some drinks as dived right into the pieces.

The Sketch for Survival pieces started with the “Juniors” – it is fairly hard to remember how my pieces were at the age of 8 or 15 but I was blown away by them! The different techniques and the understanding of light and shadow were above my expectations. We were very happy to see some of the young artists there, accompanied by their proud parents. Also the hosts took their time to speak to and support them which was lovely to see.

After the selected juniors it was time for the other “sketches” for survival. And honestly… as the junior artworks – these are no sketches at all. Lots of thought, time, work, frustration, and joy created every single piece visible in this exhibition. Techniques and media varied a lot and especially unknown species and unusual techniques caught my attention. The last pieces of the exhibition were created by selected wildlife conservation artists throughout the EAE-Supporters-List with a range from abstract to hyperrealistic paintings – each of them unique and special in their own way. These are some cherries on top and who would not like to have such an original hanging in their apartment?!

Throughout the evening, we exchanged with a bunch of artists as like the room was filled with them. We had a lovely chat with Holly Emerson, learned new techniques (and why exhibitions should also have a dark-room-switch) from Wyland Tondelier, and how wildlife art might win against against portraits from Claire Hughes. Just to name a few.

All pieces can be found here! The auction is open until the 17^th of November 2024.

I made incredible and valuable new connections that evening. I can only thank ExplorersAgainstExtinction for organizing such an event and the competition in general!

And I will be back next year! At least I try to 🙂

I  arrived at Bush House in London early on Saturday, the 28th of September, just after 9:00 a.m. The official registration wasn’t until 10, but I wanted to get a head start and finish hanging my artwork before the doors officially opened.

Once I had my artwork up and finished registering, I prepared my label to let everybody know that I am Karimoloephysis, which is a fun little detail.

Besides all the engaging talks and the amazing stalls, I enjoyed the paleoart workshops the most. The open “show and tell” was a great opportunity to learn about about Zid and Zniw and paleostream vol. 3 by Joschua Knüppe. Plus, the talk on bad paleoart held by Gemma Hazeborg, Marc Vincent, and Natee Himmapaan had everyone laughing while also delivering some fascinating insights on “old” and very recent bad and not so bad paleoart.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for me was how John Conway gathered a room full of eager artists for a (dinosaur) drawing session. Using skeletal reconstructions as references, we experimented with new art mediums and were challenged in creating some “bad” paleoart, focusing on everything we wouldn’t want to see in modern reconstructions. The workshop ran throughout the entire convention and was always quite busy.

It was a space where creativity thrived and experienced artists and newcomers came together.

Though this was my first TetZooCon (and the last in that form), it certainly won’t be my last convention of that kind. I’m already looking forward to 2025 for the very first DinoCon!

Along with 99 other amazing artists, I am honored to have my artwork displayed publicly in London and Edinburgh. I hope this piece will find a new home and help raise funds to combat extinction.

What makes this artwork so special to me is that it is the largest of its kind I have created so far. The title, “We Saw It Coming,” is meaningful. If you look closely, you can see what this pangolin saw last. Like many other incredible artworks, this piece serves as a wake-up call to protect endangered species.