It mightn't be Monet, but the National Zoo and Aquarium's budding meerkat artists are sure to give the Canberra art community paws for thought.
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Meerkat artists-in-resident, Makena, Sekai and Mbali, have painted a number of artworks which will be up for sale this weekend at the National Zoo and Aquarium.
Senior keeper and event organiser Shelley Russell said the meerkats were chosen for the event because they were the most artistically talented of the zoo's residents.
"They're really amazing, they're just naturals," she said.
"We’ve done cheetahs and that wasn’t as much fun as I’d like to tell. The cheetah ended up quite colourful. Then we had the otters, they’re always quite fun, we had dingos and we tried zebra but didn’t have any success."
To help the meerkats to release their inner artist, the keepers placed two clean canvasses inside the enclosure, surrounded by sheets of wet paint, and placed food in the middle.
Ms Russell said some of the original trials had gotten quite messy.
"You should have seen the mess on the trial. We did it in the dens and I have these photos of this incredible mess. The entire den was blue and green. It was a lot of fun and the meerkats just loved it," she said.
Ms Russell organised the exhibition to raise money for a number of international wildlife charities, including the Free The Bears Fund and the Orangutan Project, and will include animal artworks as well as some from local human artists.
The event will be open on Saturday and Sunday 10am-5pm.
Wildlife photographer Ann Eldridge is one of the artists whose work will be up for sale over the weekend.
She was happy to be part of the exhibit, saying helping animals in need was the right thing to do.
"You ever seen an animal in a cage? You seen the [zoo's] sun bear? She sits here all day and she sways, because she was in a cage that big and they were going to cut off her paws for soup," she said.
"That’s why it’s important because that’s just, how can you treat an animal like that?"
Photographer Lance Fearne has taken a number of photographs of the animals at the National Zoo and Aquarium, which will be sold to raise money for conservation projects.
"You look after the world and it looks after you," he said.
