Dialogue by Mark:

In today's Masters' Gallery, we'll meet a not-so-delicate creature who also requires a special environment to survive. This painting of a moose is titled "King's Knight," and was done by the American artist David Klamen just a few years ago, in 1986.

Klamen often paints pictures that feel calm and yet threatening at the same time. His moose is standing alone on a barren shore in front of unpleasant grey water. His horns are lowered. Do you feel like he's getting ready to charge at us and fight? Or will he turn away and walk quietly back to the water?

Moose do love the water. They live around swamps and lakes, and like to stand in teh water up to their knees with their huge hooves in the mud, munching on twigs and water plants. Moose are the world's largest deer and those antlers sometimes grow as big as 6 feet across!

Moose depend on lots of wide open country and wetlands for their survival. They live in the wild areas of the northern US and Canada. Thanks to our wildlife biologist of art history, Kim at KidsArt, and to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago for David Klamen's great painting!