Creatures of Kansas Art Print

“Creatures of Kansas“
Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fishes of the Kansas City Area
Official Logo Artwork for the Joint Conference on Ichthyology and Herpetology, 2002

There are hidden jokes and references in this ink and watercolor piece. A month of very enjoyable research with specialists at Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and in numerous books led to this selection of fascinating. All live in the Mississippi River and its tributary waterways in the Kansas City region. If you notice a resemblance to the artistic style of Alaskan fish artist Ray Troll, that’s because he recommended me for this job when his plate was too full. I was happy to riff on his sense of humor and techniques and take it from there with my own style. This complex logo was printed on t-shirts, programs, and canvas bags for about 2000 conference participants. The original artwork was purchased at the conference by a Smithsonian curator of fishes and hangs in her office in Washington, D.C.