On Saturday, July 25th at 1:00 pm, the Friends of Rydell and Glacial Ridge Refuges Association will host a one-hour wildlife art presentation at the Rydell National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.
Local conservationist and award-winning wildlife artist, Ross Hier, will deliver a presentation titled “Art, Birds and Life”. Ross is a Minnesota native who has wildlife management degrees from both the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and New Mexico State University. He worked for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for 35 years and retired as the Area Wildlife Manager in Crookston. For 15 years, he was also an adjunct instructor for the University of Minnesota-Crookston.
Hier is a self-taught artist whose love of nature shines through in his watercolor and acrylic paintings and drawings. A relatively recent project Ross completed with a fellow artist was a 10-foot mural on the side of a building across from Cabela’s/Bass Pro Shops in East Grand Forks. It features native fish species of the Red River.
Hier’s art has been showcased at exhibits in multiple states, and he’s received regional and national awards, including the Northwest Minnesota Artist of the Year by the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council in 2022 and the Jay N. “Ding” Darling Memorial Award for Wildlife Stewardship through Art in 2020. The latter is a national award presented by The Wildlife Society.
Ross’ presentation will touch on some of his great fortunes in life, his early family life, his professional career with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and his love of birds and subsequent need to create through various artistic endeavors.
At the conclusion of his presentation and a question-and-answer session, Ross will unveil an original watercolor that he will be giving to one lucky member of the Friends of Rydell and Glacial Ridge Refuges Association.
No pre-registration is required for this free event. For more information, contact Gregg Knutsen, Refuge Manager, at 218-686-4329 or gregg_knutsen@fws.gov.
