Bonnie Marris, b. Michigan, United States

Bonnie Marris has taken an unusual path into art: she developed her talent by portraying animals "from the inside out." While she was a student at Michigan State University, Bonnie illustrated several major books. One volume she worked on was a leading expert mammalogist's text that contained several hundred drawings and detailed studies. This massive project attracted the attention of noted zoologist George Schaller, who invited Bonnie to prepare the art for posters that would support his worldwide rare animal relief programs.

Beyond academic training and emotional involvement, art requires another element for which there is no substitute: experience. Each year, Bonnie makes two major trips, and countless smaller ones, to observe and learn about the wildlife she loves. In 1980, one such voyage took her to Alaska, where she lived in the wilderness for six months. She recounts, "To get into a natural environment and see the animals on their own terms is as important as knowing the animals themselves. For instance, gray wolves on the Tundra with the wind and other forces of nature at their most extreme-that's what makes them what they are. To stand not far from a grizzly which is so overpowering, so beautiful and so large…to watch itself pull up a small tree with a swipe of its' paw and just a few minutes later see it delicately picking blueberries. Alaska changed me. It gave me the biggest incentive to paint and increased any interest in predators: the cats, bears, coyotes, wolves, and foxes. They exist on so many levels: their moods show in their eyes and we can learn so much from them."

Education
• Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Selected Exhibitions
• Autry National Center, Masters of The American West, Los Angeles, CA
• Trailside Galleries, Fall Gold, Jackson, WY, 2001-2014
• Trailside Galleries, 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Jackson, WY 2013
Selected Press
• Western Art Collector, January 2012
• Southwest Art, June, 2011
• Art of the West, November 2010
• Art of the West, May-June 2009
• Art of the West, Patricia O'Connor, Where Magic Lies, July, 2004
Selected Publications
• Michigan Mammals, Dr. Rollin Baker, Michigan State University Press
• The Red Fox In Art, Dr. John Orrell, Skagit River Press
Public Collections
• University Cal-Poly, Pomona, CA
Awards
• Autry National Center, Masters of The American West, Bob Kuhn Wildlife Award, Los Angeles, CA, 2014
• Autry National Center, Masters of The American West, Artist's Choice Award, Los Angeles, CA, 2014
• Autry National Center, Masters of The American West, Patron's Choice Award, Los Angeles, CA, 2014

Bonnie Marris has been studying and painting wolves, foxes, dogs and horses since childhood. The passion Bonnie Marris has for wilderness, for animals, and for light and color come together in her art, and she feels her work has accomplished its purpose when a viewer feels that same passion.