George Bumann – NWR Artist

2016 Winner NWR Founder’s Award of Merit for “VIGILANCE”

George Bumann finds a deep sense of connection with his wild subjects. Living at the doorstep to Yellowstone National Park, he resides in daily contact with some of the world’s most iconic wildlife. Raised in his mother’s New York sculpture studio and formally trained as a wildlife ecologist, George has combined his two great passions in life: art and nature. Through his art, he conveys a nuanced understanding of his non-human subjects—the result of knowing individual wild elk, bison,
wolves and bears for periods of months or even years. “What I’m after is a sense of their inner landscape—their thoughts, their intentions—as a way to explore deeper meaning and to tell their stories using the qualities of light, form and gesture.”

Not afraid to get dirt in his clay, he is often found modeling from life amid wild herds of bison, hiking primordial pathways or drawing lessons from what he refers to as, “the big studio” – the twenty million plus acres of wilderness that surrounds his home. George’s work has received multiple awards and honors and can be found in public and private collections throughout the United States and around the globe. He has also been featured in numerous print publications, national radio and television appearances. He is an elected member of the National Sculpture Society and the Society of Animal Artists.