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Jim
Biesinger Jules Bouillet John Bundy Rick Cain Joyce Cracas Dale Duby Dan Edwards Fae Harper Stephen Herrero Kimberly Hunt Jim Jackson Ted Miller Todd Orr Mary Pearson Greg Peltzer John Raya Randall Reading Ken Richardson Tommy Singer Joe Slockbower Ed Totten Ruben Trajada Dale Traut |
 Ed Totten Some artists use photographs or sketches to capture their subjects, relying on intermediary impressions to create their works. Internationally acclaimed wildlife artist Ed Totten is surrounded by his sources of inspiration. As he told Trout magazine, he does not really "research" his realistic paintings. "If I need to check a detail on a fish, I just go out and catch one, "Totten says. His immediate connection with nature reveals itself in his work. Totten's paintings, bronze castings and carvings immortalize fish and fowl in the midst of life: birds in flight and fish resting in a stream rather than as trophies to be hung on a wall. As Big Sky Journal reported, "Rather than capturing the trout after it's been caught, Ed Totten focuses on the fish in a more natural state, floating easily or feeding on a mayfly. "Totten himself says he strives to portray the "alive" quality of an animal, and the realism of his paintings is a tribute both to his talent and appreciation of the wild. A devoted fly fisherman and traditional bowhunter, Totten returned to his native Montana after receiving his BFA from Indiana University. He i-naintains a studio in Ennis, painting, carving and sculpting for bronze. While his fish art is extremely well known, thanks to his affiliations with Trout Unlimited and The Bradford Exchange, his technique combining a woodcarving with an original painting in a single piece has gained him worldwide recognition. Totten's efforts have been rewarded by the art and sporting community alike. In past years, he has won numerous awards for his works. He has been named artist of the year by both Utah Ducks Unlimited and National Trout Unlimited, which has featured Ed's limited edition prints in it's banquet program since 1993. The National Wildlife Federation Has commissioned paintings of the endangered Snake River sockeye salmon and the threatened Montana grayling. Not surprisingly, he won the only trout stamp competition he ever entered and his Federal Duck Stamp painting was included in a traveling exhibit of the top ten. For Totten, however, one of his proudest achievements was designing The International Wild Waterfowl Association's annual award for the preservation of rare and endangered waterfowl, a bronze casting of a carved canvasback duck. Admirers of Totten's art are not limited to members of outdoor organizations. He recently completed eight gamefish paintings -- from trout to bluegills -- for The Bradford Exchange for a series of limited edition collectors'plates. Ed Totten sees his art as more than presenting an accurate picture of a fish or an elk. He wants to introduce others to the unspoiled natural world he has discovered in his years of angling, hunting and hiking and convince them of its beauty and value. In Montana and elsewhere, the conversions to a greater appreciation of nature have already begun. |
