Martha Stewart Meets MacGyver

By Robin Huffman, Safina Center Fellow

Recently, Ape Action Africa asked me to confirm that I was the creator of a specific sign at their primate sanctuary in Cameroon, because a woman who visited a year ago was now inquiring about the artist.  I had indeed done the sign – ten years ago!  The woman – who lives in Luxembourg - then reached out to me herself to order a print of that painting.  It got me to reflecting on my 13-year volunteer path of beautifying primate sanctuaries.

This is the sign at Ape Action Africa the woman from Luxembourg inquired about. Henry, one of the education officers, leads children on a tour. Behind the door is a mirror, with the phrase “We are not so different.”

Photo: Robin Huffman

Even though I worked in a creative profession for three decades — interior design — I’ve never felt so enterprising as when I am volunteering. A friend jokingly dubbed it “Martha Stewart meets MacGyver.” 

I’ve discovered that when there’s a convergence of three elements, my problem-solving abilities and creativity kick into overdrive:

First, when there is a tremendous need and small improvements can make a big difference;           

Second, a strong desire to help;

And third, a scarcity of resources. 

Primates led me to that trifecta, when I fell in love with them on my first trip to Ape Action Africa in Cameroon in 2007. It was their director, Rachel, who first asked me to create a sign at a primate sanctuary. She asked if I would “paint a monkey” following an incident in which the sanctuary’s signs were destroyed.

I’ve been painting monkeys ever since, along with gorillas and chimpanzees. And not only do I paint primates at the sanctuaries, my range expanded as the needs and opportunities arose, to other signs, duplicating logos of sanctuaries and their sponsors, flags, billboards, decorating buildings and other structures, and eventually even to producing some of my favorite animal protection quotes.  

In addition to painting, I apply my skill sets from an interior design career. It’s exciting to lend my ingenuity and professional background to creatures and places I care about that can benefit so much. 

 The fact that I can step back and view a sanctuary from a visitor experience, understanding that they form impressions from the visuals, is invaluable. Because I believe the better a sanctuary looks, the more respect it garners from visitors, donors and potential donors as well as convey a sense that the level of appearance equates to the level of care given to the souls harbored within its borders. And sanctuary staff and volunteers can also take pride in the enhancements.

Now when I visit my favorite primate sanctuaries and environmental centers, I’m met by the leaders who eagerly hand me their lists of desired signage and art projects for me to undertake.  And Rachel has said to me, “Whatever you think is needed here, go ahead and do it.  Consider the whole park your palette.” How often does one get that kind of artistic license? 

I am forever indebted to the monkeys, gorillas, chimps, gibbons and other sentient beings I’ve had the opportunity to paint, and to help with my artistic efforts.

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A few highlights of my creative projects at primate sanctuaries

Hover your cursor over each image to learn more

APE ACTION AFRICA, CAMEROON

Visitor center at Ape Action Africa in Cameroon, built in 2018. Visitors are welcomed daily from around the world. I painted the logo sign, camouflage bidet/planter, fern design bench, “Helping Hands” gorilla statue, Rachel Hogan quote, and designed the interiors and retail display.

Photo: Robin Huffman

Visitor center interior. For this I called upon my interior design background, designing the cabinetry, and using nature objects – trees, twisting vines, branches, bamboo rods, ferns, nests – as display fixtures.

Photo: Robin Huffman

The volunteer veranda at Ape Action Africa provides a luxurious workshop for my “production-line” sign program. This is about the third iteration of signage I’ve done for the sanctuary since 2007, as the rainforest is always working to reclaim humans’ handiwork. The first signs were on 1/8” thick plywood (due to budget), but now they’re aluminum. Whew!

Photo: Robin Huffman

A typical current locational sign at Ape Action Africa, for the thousands of guests who visit annually. Cameroon’s official languages are French and English. Some signs I do in English, others French, many are both.

Photo: Robin Huffman

Entrance to Ape Action Africa’s volunteer kitchen. One of the “Helping Hands” signposts I designed, using milk powder tins (milk for human and nonhuman primates), with donor, staff and volunteer handprints. The Helping Hands gorilla stands in front of a window which had plywood covering the broken bottom half, onto which I painted a trompe l’oeuil – a fake window above an image of a cheeky monkey named Steve stepping into a paradise world.

Photo: Robin Huffman

A pretty common sight around Ape Action Africa, me heading for another part of the sanctuary with a sign to mount.

Photo: Robin Huffman

This shipping container is in prominent view of visitors at Ape Action Africa. I painted the Latin names of every species of primate then living at the sanctuary (except I left out homo sapiens…). I intended for there to be photographs of each species on hand so visitors could try their hand at matching the image to the name.

Photo: Robin Huffman

Ape Action Africa’s mission statement in French and English, with their logo, all hand-painted. No such thing as a copy center or print shop in the jungle! Most visitors have their picture taken with this sign. Due to budget constraints, I repurposed scrap iron materials to invent an alternate sign structure.

Photo: Robin Huffman

This is my latest – my third – painting of the Ape Action Africa education pavilion.

Photo: Alex Benitez and Ape Action Africa

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C.A.R.E. BABOON SANCTUARY AND REHABILITATION CENTRE, SOUTH AFRICA

My painting studio and signs at C.A.R.E. Baboon Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa, near Kruger National Park. Not only does the studio provide welcome shade, it keeps out the curious wild baboons, vervet monkeys and meerkats. These signs were on doors that were donated; I also painted signs and baboons on buildings, an electrical box and an abandoned refrigerator (which made an excellent three-sided signpost).

Photo: Robin Huffman

Murals for the new open-air baboon nursery at C.A.R.E., where the orphaned infants romp while their caregivers look on. Visitors observe through a viewing window. Some baboons tried licking the painted leaves!

Photo: Robin Huffman

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SANAGA-YONG CHIMPANZEE RESCUE, CAMEROON

I’ve painted two generations of welcome signs for a primate sanctuary I’ve never visited. Dr. Sheri Speede, founder of Cameroon’s Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, is a close friend of Ape Action Africa’s director, Rachel. Rachel has both times offered my sign-painting services to Dr. Sheri.

Photo: Robin Huffman

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CENTRE VALBIO, MADAGASCAR

While volunteering at Centre ValBio, the Stony Brook-affiliated environmental research center in Madagascar, we had less than a week to transform the construction site of their new building into a party space for an American embassy event, on a tight budget and nine hours’ drive from the city (with ONE shopping trip). Among other projects like redeploying erosion-control bricks as vases, planters and decoration supports, and long aluminum future railings as swagged-fabric rods and planter trellises, I had to devise a sturdy, cheap, attractive design to cover 21 bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling…which also had to be SAFE. Ultimately that consisted of sheets of handmade paper stapled into cylinders, placemat sticks, PVC pipe, and cells from a sturdy rubber floor mat as protective gaskets. All turned out well!

Photo: Robin Huffman

While volunteering at Centre ValBio, the Stony Brook-affiliated environmental research center in Madagascar, we had less than a week to transform the construction site of their new building into a party space for an American embassy event, on a tight budget and nine hours’ drive from the city (with ONE shopping trip). Among other projects like redeploying erosion-control bricks as vases, planters and decoration supports, and long aluminum future railings as swagged-fabric rods and planter trellises, I had to devise a sturdy, cheap, attractive design to cover 21 bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling…which also had to be SAFE. Ultimately that consisted of sheets of handmade paper stapled into cylinders, placemat sticks, PVC pipe, and cells from a sturdy rubber floor mat as protective gaskets. All turned out well!

Photo: Robin Huffman

While volunteering at Centre ValBio, the Stony Brook-affiliated environmental research center in Madagascar, we had less than a week to transform the construction site of their new building into a party space for an American embassy event, on a tight budget and nine hours’ drive from the city (with ONE shopping trip). Among other projects like redeploying erosion-control bricks as vases, planters and decoration supports, and long aluminum future railings as swagged-fabric rods and planter trellises, I had to devise a sturdy, cheap, attractive design to cover 21 bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling…which also had to be SAFE. Ultimately that consisted of sheets of handmade paper stapled into cylinders, placemat sticks, PVC pipe, and cells from a sturdy rubber floor mat as protective gaskets. All turned out well!

Photo: Robin Huffman

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VERVET MONKEY FOUNDATION, SOUTH AFRICA

A time-lapse video of my painting the new welcome sign for the Vervet Monkey Foundation in the Limpopo province of South Africa, during my last stay. I love when my volunteering consists mostly of painting, design and caring for the primates! Video by Alex Benitez and Vervet Monkey Foundation.