The great Robert Bateman

He's outside on the driveway to welcome me, a healthy glow in his cheeks from his hike in the forest. His fleece vest is unzipped, despite the November morning chill, and there's trail mud on the toes of his boots. He meets me with a grin and a firm handshake, but his words of greeting are overwhelmed by a noisy flock of Canada geese touching down on the lake below the house.

On the day of our meeting, Robert Bateman's 80th birthday, on May 24, 2010, is just months away, yet he looks 60 and maintains a schedule that would exhaust far younger men. Within the past four weeks he has opened a show at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg-the first there by a Canadian artist. He's travelled to Nova Scotia to visit his artist son, Alan, in the Annapolis Valley; spoken about nature to 1,500 teenagers at the Moncton Coliseum Complex; talked with more youths at the high school named for him in Burlington, Ontario; then stopped in at a small school in Quebec.

Now he's comfortably, albeit briefly, ensconced in his favourite place doing what he loves most-painting nature in his Saltspring Island studio. In less than two weeks, he and his wife, Birgit Freybe Bateman, are off on their fifth trip to Antarctica. Then, among other adventures, there's a photographic safari in Africa; more art shows in Russia; a birdathon in Ontario; and finally home for a birthday celebration with his family.

"I'm not obsessed at all with turning 80 or getting old. I still feel like I'm about 40. But I am a bit obsessed with time, very obsessed with time, actually.

"When you turn 80, you start counting how many more times am I going to be able to go to whatever, how many more months of May will I have? Maybe 10; if I'm really lucky, 20."......

...[Bateman's philosophies and convictions regarding the importance of the environment] are part of a legacy that will soon grace the grounds of Greater Victoria's Royal Roads University campus. The Robert Bateman Centre, an art and environmental education venue, will house hundreds of works by Canada's most famous wildlife artist.

Original paintings, prints, giclees, carvings, sculptures and more than 80 sketchbooks dating back to Bateman's teens will be displayed along with journals, photographs, films, books and personal memorabilia.

Although contemporary, aboriginal, and other art will be exhibited, the Bateman Centre will not only be an art gallery. It will be a place where art and science merge, where cultures overlap, and ongoing dialogue about conservation issues is encouraged. Much of the content in the courses offered at the centre and elsewhere at RRU will espouse Bateman's environmental beliefs.

The natural forest theme visible through big windows will be reflected inside in wooden beams, floors, and ceilings, some of it gathered from the campus grounds. This 1,670-square-metre "living building" is aimed at being self-sufficient in energy and water use, a catalyst in the plan to take RRU "off the grid," to make it one of the nation's first carbon-neutral, self-sustaining universities.

Like Bateman's art, the building "should communicate the message of living in an ecologically sensitive way," says architect Richard Iredale. Funding for the $18-million centre, expected to open in 2012, was kicked off by a donation from the Bateman family of close to $11-million worth of art, private collectibles, and funds. Bateman is continuing to produce new paintings to be exhibited there. The first, Raven's Roost, valued at more than $90,000, was donated last December. The Batemans also have established a bursary in their name.

The choice of Royal Roads as the home for his legacy was based partly on its oceanfront location, 230-hectares on Hatley Park National Historic Site with an Edwardian castle surrounded by old-growth forests, a place that celebrates and protects both human and natural heritage.

RRU, where the average student is 38 to 40 years old, is a "special-purpose" university catering largely to graduate and undergraduate students seeking career changes and to business people planning to apply sustainable principles to their companies. While Bateman's commitment to educating young children is clear, he emphasizes that the environmental clock is ticking: today's crises urgently require solutions from people old enough to make well-educated decisions - right now.

Another, albeit less significant decision right now is what the Batemans will have for lunch, probably organic turkey or salmon, and a low-carb salad with kale grown in their vegetable garden. Last chance for my final question: "At your age, many people would have been retired for two decades: what are your plans for the next two decades?"

"I basically do two things," Bateman smiles. "I paint and I rant. So I'll just continue."

by Bruce Obee