Wildlife artist, Dwayne Harty, draws his inspiration by immersing himself in wilderness in order to study first-hand the wildlife and landscape that inspires him. Dwayne has been creating paintings and dioramas for close to 50 years. His paintings are categorized into the following genres: landscape and wildlife depicted in large scale diorama and mural formats as well as gallery easel works. He also works as a sculptor and enjoys printmaking in the form of copper plate etchings. Dwayne eludes physical minutiae and surface detail in order to convey the transitory and ephemeral. His aesthetic concerns - such as shifts in color, temperature of light or how light illuminates an animal's coat - are those of an impressionist although his work is realistic.

Harty was commissioned by "The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative" (Y2Y) as their artist for the international traveling exhibition, Yellowstone to Yukon: the Journey of Wildlife and Art. This exhibition opened in 2011 at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming and in 2012 at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta. To prepare the work for this exhibition Harty traveled for three years by truck, raft, plane helicopter and horseback into some of North America's most remote and beautiful wilderness areas: from the Wind River Mountains and Yellowstone Park, Wyoming; Glacier National Park, Montana; up the spine of the Rockies through Waterton, Banff and Jasper National Parks; to the austere Tombstone Mountains in the Yukon and Nahanni National Park in the Northwest Territories. His travels and field work completed, Dwayne was appointed artist in residence at The Murie Center in Moose, Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park, after which, for two years, he maintained a studio at the Art Association of Jackson Hole to complete the final formal easel works. Harty was chosen as the 2011 Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival artist with his painting "Strength and Vulnerability" depicting grizzly bear #399 with her three cubs.

Dwayne pursued formal art training at the Art Students League in New York City and was mentored by three of the 20th century's important wildlife artists: Bob Kuhn, Robert Lougheed and Clarence Tillenius. He also travelled to Europe to study the work of Bruno Liljefors, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Richard Friese and Heinrich von Zugel. And, by following in the geographic footsteps, from Yellowstone to Yukon, of Carl Rungius, Harty developed a particular gift for the subtle colors found in nature and natural behavior of animals in all their moods. His ability to paint animals in their habitats has led to commissions to paint dioramas for major natural history museums, visitor centers and park interpretive centers.

In addition Dwayne Harty was educated and mentored in the fine art of natural history dioramas and murals by the foremost practitioners in this specialized field. He was coached and mentored by Ruth Billard and Ralph Morrill of the Peabody Museum, Yale Campus, New Haven CT. Mr. Morrill and Ms. Billard passed on to Harty the detailed documents of the working methodology and formulas of acknowledged master diorama background artist, James Perry Wilson. In addition Harty was mentored by Ray Delucia, Dave Schwendeman and Matthew Kalminoff at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Harty counts as colleagues and friends his noted museum contemporaries: Mr. Stephen Quinn (recently retired as Senior Manager of the Exhibits Department, AMNH, NYC and author of, "Windows on Nature: the Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History" ), Mr. Michael Anderson ( Manager of Exhibits, Peabody Museum, Yale campus, New Haven, CT and author on the life and work of James Perry Wilson ), Mr. Don Luce (Managaer of Exhibits, Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis, MN ). Dwayne spent his very early formative years under the tutelage Clarence Tillenius, steeped in the science, history and practice of the art of the diorama. Dwayne Harty has created over two dozen dioramas for seven major natural history and human history institutions; the largest depicting the Costa Rican Rain Forest and measuring three stories high x 130 feet around x 24 feet deep.