The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, joins forces with the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) for a new exhibition that draws on the rich artistic history of the U.S.-to-Canada migratory corridor while conveying its importance for sustaining wildlife populations. Yellowstone to Yukon: The Journey of Wildlife Art will be on display in three galleries at the National Museum of Wildlife Art through August 14, 2011. The exhibition then travels to the Whyte Museum.

Covering some 1.3 million square miles, the Y2Y region spans five American states, two Canadian provinces, two Canadian territories, and includes the Rocky, Columbia, and Mackenzie mountain ranges. Works chosen by the two museums for the exhibition link centuries as well as the migratory corridor’s wide-reaching territory, depicting wildlife in the region by such masters as Albert Bierstadt, John Clymer, Carl Rungius, and Bob Kuhn.

In addition to the historical pieces, contemporary painter Dwayne Harty was commissioned by Y2Y to travel the corridor, capturing landscapes along the route that had rarely if ever before been sketched firsthand. Following in the geographic footsteps of renowned wildlife artist Carl Rungius, Harty painted the 17 “areas at risk” as designated by Y2Y along the Wyoming-to-Canada corridor, with his finished works serving as a “living thread” connecting main themes throughout the Yellowstone to Yukon exhibition.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art also will display its complete set of Rungius drypoints in a second exhibition to complement the Yellowstone to Yukon show. Above Timberline: Engravings by Carl Rungius will be on display through October 2, 2011.

A member of the Museums West consortium and accredited by the American Association of Museums, the National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States provides an exciting calendar of exhibitions from its permanent collection and changing exhibitions from around the globe.

Image: Spell of the High Country, 1977 Conrad Schwiering (United States, 1916 – 1986) Oil on Board, 36 X 48 inches Gift of W. G. Kerr, National Museum of Wildlife Art Collection W0996.099

www.wildlifeart.org

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1. Summer Exhibitions at the National Museum of Wildlife Art
2. Yellowstone Art Museum Hosts 43rd Annual Art Auction On The Wing
3. National Museum of Wildlife Art Honors Jerry Pinkney with Bull-Bransom Award