He didn’t quite walk in like he was walking onto a yacht, but there was no doubting who the star of the show was Saturday at Spirit Gallery, a tattoo shop and fine art gallery in New London, CT. Atka, our traveling ambassador arctic gray wolf, strolled in to the gallery for a return visit to find himself surrounded…by himself. As if he had entered a house of mirrors, Atka (and guests) were welcomed by images of Atka in profile, Atka in the woods, Atka in the spotlight, Atka as a “guardian spirit” (true to the meaning of his Inuit language name), and even Atka as…Donald Trump?! It was enough to make any wolf’s head swell (toupee or not)!

The exhibiting artists had photographed Atka when he visited in the gallery in the spring (photo above), and later contributed their interpretations of Atka in various media, including paintings, metal work, and photography. Some works are based in realism, while others more fanciful, but all are quite impressive. Even more impressive and generous is that all proceeds from sales of the works featured in the show, appropriately titled “Majestic Beauty,” are being donated to the Wolf Conservation Center. Blaze, the owner of Spirit Gallery, and one of the contributing artists (you’ve got to see Atka as Trump), even solicited wolf-themed artwork from various celebrities including Donald Trump, Dean Koontz, Eric McCormack, Linda Evans, and Jorja Fox. Renowned painter Julie Bell also contributed a work to the show. A couple of photos are posted below. For more photos from the exhibit, click here.

The artwork is being sold via an auction process that closes October 23rd. The exhibition should be available for online viewing soon, but if you happen to be driving near New London, the gallery is only a couple of minutes off of I-95 and the people there couldn’t be nicer (and we’re not just saying that because they trotted out a ton of enrichment opportunities, including various natural and unnatural scents, for Atka’s visit). Hours are posted on the Spirit Gallery website.

Huge thanks to all the artists who contributed and to Blaze and the great folks at the Spirit Gallery for putting on the exhibit and being such great hosts!

Below: Blaze and the Donald pose with their works. OK, so Mr. Trump wasn’t there, so an Atka fan kindly stepped in to pose with the drawing Mr. Trump was nice enough to contribute.