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Duane Raver, Jr. was born in Newton, Iowa May 4, 1927, and grew up in central Iowa where he learned to love the outdoors and its wild things. The first fish that wildlife artist Duane Raver ever saw was probably a bullhead from an Iowa reservoir. Duane soon found that he enjoyed drawing and painting his catch, and many of his notes and sketches in use today have dates of the 1940's on them.
He obtained a degree in Fishery Management from Iowa State University in 1949, and was employed as a fishery biologist by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission in 1950. Art work remained an important part of his life, and he contributed many illustrations to the monthly publication "Wildlife in North Carolina" and joined the staff of the magazine in 1960. Raver served as Editor of the magazine for many years, retiring to full-time free lance art work in 1979.
Specializing in fish illustrations, he has completed many series over the years including paintings for Virginia's fish book, as well as, Lousiana, Oklahoma, North Carolina and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Raver was named "Wildlife Artist of the Year" by the N.C. Wildlife Federation in 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1984.
He is co-author of the book "Fishes of North Carolina", along with Charles Manooch, III.
Mr. Raver's art was also used by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) for the "Freshwater Fishes of Florida" poster, the series of Florida Wildlife articles that this site is based upon, and the full-color illustrations used on the FWC "Big Catch" program and "State Record" certificates.
Webmasters for commercial sites are advised that use of his art on their site requires Mr. Raver's written approval (919-550-9873). His art collection has now been purchased by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and web ready images are available at http://training.fws.gov/bart/ravercd.html; permission to use the art is still required and credit must be given to the USFWS and Duane Raver.
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