April 13, 2018 - Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center to Showcase Wildlife Artist Owen Gromme in Short-Term Exhibit
For Immediate Release
For Immediate Release Contact: Kara O’Keeffe 608-250-9699 Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center to Showcase Wildlife Artist Owen Gromme in Short-Term Exhibit Ashland, Wis. – The Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center will be hosting a short-term exhibit honoring the legacy of wildlife artist, Owen Gromme. The exhibit will contain some of his paintings, scrapbook clippings and photographs that span his career. “Owen Gromme was not only a superb wildlife artist, he was also a strong and early advocate for conservation; a founder of the International Crane Foundation; and the president of the Wetlands for Wildlife organization,” said Linda Mittlestadt, Wisconsin Historical Society archivist. The exhibit will feature two of Gromme's prints from a private collection, including a numbered artist proof of "Hostile Sky." Visitors will also have a chance to look through Gromme's scrapbooks containing clippings and photographs that cover his career beginning as Curator of Wildlife at Milwaukee Public Museum, his trips to Africa, and his conservation endeavors including his relentless effort to save Horicon Marsh. The exhibit will be on display during the Bird & Nature Festival, May 17-19, 2018 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm each day. The Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center is located at 29270 Co Hwy G in Ashland, WI. Owen Gromme was born in 1896 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. At the age of 21, he worked as a taxidermist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. After World War I, Gromme worked at the Milwaukee County (now Public) Museum as a taxidermist, collector, photographer, movie editor, background painter, botanist, geologist, sculptor, and finally curator of birds and mammals. Gromme’s reputation as a painter of wildlife art, prints and posters enabled him to bring attention and action to important conservation issues such as legislation to protect birds, the protection of the Horicon Marsh, and the formation of the International Crane Foundation. For more information on the event please visit, wisconsinhistory.org/calendar. About the Wisconsin Historical Society ### |