Arctic Fox Esther van Hulsen

Image © Esther van Hulsen

About the Artist

Van Hulsen’s award-winning work has appeared in a broad range of publications worldwide, from Nature Magazine and National Geographic, to the Prehistoric Times, American Falconry Magazine, and even Popular Science. Her originals are featured in numerous museum collections in both Europe and the United States. Her Black Footed Ferret, currently with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, is destined for the Smithsonian Museum to help memorialize that agency’s and its collaborator’s unprecedented effort to save an animal once thought to be extinct. Van Hulsen was also the principal artist for 22 books on natural history and palaeontology encompassing over 1500 individual paintings and drawings, published in Norway, Holland, France, Belgium, Denmark, China, Japan and the U.S.

Current projects include numerous private and public commissions. As principal artist for a major new work on Scandinavian wildlife, Van Hulsen will be illustrating the volume with over 150 paintings and drawings executed in styles similar to the famous 19th Century naturalist notebooks of Darwin, Merian and Audubon.

She has also been commissioned to do a series of large format water color portraits of endangered animals, representing keystone species in each of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s eight global conservation hubs. Van Hulsen is a passionate conservationist, and has donated numerous works in support of international programs to prevent extinctions.

Born in the Netherlands in 1981, Van Hulsen completed a Bachelors in Communicative Design and Scientific Illustration at the historic Dutch Art Academy Minerva, founded in 1798. Ever since she has been working as a professional wildlife artist. She moved to Norway in 2006, where she and her husband Stian live surrounded by beautiful forests and fjords and abundant wildlife. The Internet and frequent travel to far away places keep her connected with global wildlife and her many followers.