We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lexi Yang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lexi, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I have worked on is being the illustrator of a children’s book called Kawan the Orangutan: Lost in the Rainforest. The author of this book is Jack Dalton, also known as the Kid Conservationist. At the time he wrote this book, he was 10 years old. I first met Jack when he was 8 years old, while I was working at the Memphis Zoo as a primate keeper. I had thrown an extravagant birthday party for Rowan, the 3 year old orangutan I had cared for since birth. The theme of the party was Dr. Seuss and I used my creativity and artistic skills to design signs and cardboard cutouts to teach people about why orangutans are endangered and how to help protect them. Jack was at the party and he became inspired to save orangutans. When he wrote this book, I was honored to be asked to illustrate it.

Jack dedicated the book to Rowan and I based the characters off of Rowan and his mother Jahe, who I cared for daily. Shortly after the book came out, I moved to Salt Lake City and started working at the Hogle Zoo as a primate keeper. At the end of my first week in my new job, an orangutan named Kawan moved from Wisconsin to Hogle Zoo and ended up under my care. It felt like fate that I had just illustrated a book about an orangutan named Kawan and now I care for an orangutan named Kawan! For each copy of the book sold, a tree is planted in the rainforest in Sumatra. Over 3,000 trees have been planted since the book came out in 2021. Jack and I actually got to visit the site in Sumatra and plant our own trees and see orangutans in the wild! It was a beautiful, inspiring moment and a dream come true for me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Lexi Yang and I am a full-time zookeeper and an artist in my free time. I have been a zookeeper for the past eleven years, and primarily take care of orangutans, gorillas, and a few species of monkeys. I love zookeeping because I get to work closely with animals every single day and give them the best care possible. I also love the fact that I am able to talk to the public about the animals I work with and teach them how they can help protect these species and participate in conservation efforts at home. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah and am surrounded by mountains and wildlife. I am an avid hiker and love seeing wildflowers and the native animal species that call Utah home.

My art is a blend of all of this. I paint with acrylics on canvases or wood slices and all of my paintings are either exotic animal species that I see at the zoo or native wildlife species and plants that I find on my hikes. My art company is called Lexi Yang Art and it has been slowly growing over the past couple years. The thing I am most proud of about my art is that I donate a portion of every art sale to an orangutan conservation organization. This helps protect wild orangutans and replant the rainforest, and I am so glad that I can put my money where my mouth is and help save the species that I love.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The biggest mission driving my creative journey is sharing my love of wildlife and wild places with others. My goal by donating a percentage of each art sale to an orangutan conservation group is to not only help save orangutans and the rainforest, but to also educate each person that comes across my art of the plight of orangutans and the rainforest.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is getting to help create memories for people and give them something to hold onto or display. I often get asked to paint animals that my fellow zookeepers have fallen in love with while working with them throughout the years. I recently painted a series that feature different animal collections in my zoo, and I love being able to give zookeepers stickers or prints that they can put on their water bottles or cars and show off the animals they so proudly care for. As a zookeeper, it is hard to find something that represents everything that I am, and it makes me happy to be able to provide this for my community. I also find it rewarding when I form relationships with people that have found me through my art. Some of my biggest supporters are people I have never met in person, and it makes me so happy when they keep coming back for more of my art. I feel like I know them, even if I have never met them in person. I have one customer who orders a custom Christmas ornament every year for his young son. It has become a tradition for me and I look forward to hearing what his favorite animal is, as it changes each year.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: lexiyangart