Those shining, snow capped solitudes, guardians of glaciers and birthplace of rivers, cracked and craggy, they are the crowns of countries. These mountains and the American west have been a magnet for Dan Metz from his first remembrance. Since 1974, from the Gates of the Arctic to the Wrangells, the St. Elias and down the Rockies through Wyoming he has gone 'in country' to his subjects where they live. Only in this way can he hope to imbue his work with the intrinsic nature and spirit of the themes he loves to portray. The scope of his fieldwork is an anomaly these days and it is evident. He has been there. There is only one goal – to make better paintings. His quest is not for some cold, mathematical precision but for a greater truth – the living, breathing essence of the animal. Beginning as an illustrator in 1973, Dan knows how to "make a picture". Fine draftsmanship and design, along with a thorough knowledge of his subjects, are the hallmarks of his work. Featured in 'Wildlife Art' and 'Sporting Classics' magazines, his work has appeared in numerous periodicals and books. Dan's article on the sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti was published in Sporting Classics in 2009. His paintings have toured in a host of Museum exhibitions across the country and he won the first Bell Museum Purchase award in 2005. "By painting on site, even occasional small sketches, artists make a direct connection to the brain. We are actually putting our hands on the thing. Creating, stroke-by-stroke, bit-by-bit, our own truth of the scene before us. Eye to hand to brain we can grasp it, understand it and remember how we got there." "Carl Rungius once told Francis Lee Jaques, "I have to go out in the wilderness. Zoo animals have not the proper carriage.' It is so true. Muscle tone, attitude, the spark in the eye - it is the difference between life and death and the life of Riley." - All quotes, Dan Metz Magazines: "The Genius of Rembrandt Bugatti" [author] Sporting Classics - March/April 2009 Wildlife Art [feature] September/October, 1999 Sporting Classics [feature] September/October, 1995 Sporting Classics [conte'] March/April, 1989 Sporting Classics [scratchboard] November/December, 1986 Books: "Great Rams II" Collectors Covey 2008 [illustrations] Pronghorn: Ecology & Management, Wildlife Management Institute, University Press of Colorado, 2004 [illustrations] Prairie Ghost, Wildlife Management Institute, University Press of Colorado, 2004 [Illustrator] North American Elk, Wildlife Management Institute, Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002 [illustrator] Wildlife Art, Rockport Publishers, 1999 [contributor] Green River Drift: A History Of The Upper Green River Cattle Association By Jonita Sommers 1994 [photographs] Horned Moons and Savage Santas, Live Oak Press, 2006 [illustrator] Last Casts and Stolen Hunts, Live Oak Press, 1993 [illustrator] The Blackfeet: Artists Of The Northern Plains by Bob Scriver, 1990 [contributor] Scratchboard for Illustration, Watson-Guptill, 1990 [contributor] Elk of North America, Wildlife Management Institute, Stackpole Books, 1982 [illustrator] The Work of Dan Metz Has Appeared At these Museums: The Smithsonian Washington, D.C. | The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum Wausau, Wisconsin, Birds In Art, Wildlife: The Artists View, Natural Wonders | Bennington Center for the Arts Bennington, Vermont | R.W. Norton Art Gallery Shreveport, Louisiana | Old Algonquian Museum Algonquian National Park, Ontario | The Rochester Museum, Rochester, New York | Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, Michigan | The High Desert Museum, Bend, Oregon | The Witte Museum San Antonio, Texas | Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, Texas | Vero Beach Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida | Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, Pennsylvania | Anniston Museum of Natural History, Anniston, Alabama | Bell Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis, Minnesota | The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | The Chicago Zoological Society, Chicago, Illinois | The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio | The Deleware Museum of Natural History, Wilmington, Delaware | The New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, New Mexico | The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, California | The Virginia Museum of Natural History, Martinsville, Virginia | The Wildlife Experience, Parker, Colorado | Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio | Bergstrom – Mahler Art Museum, Neenah, Wisconsin | The Spartanburg County Museum of Art, Spartanburg, South Carolina | Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vermont