In the early 90’s my t-shirt line started to take off, with many new retail outlets carrying my work. I also collaborated with my friend Michael Beech at Raven’s Brew Coffee in designing a whole slew of unique coffee labels. I worked on a number of large touring museum exhibits during those years: Planet Ocean (Dancing to the Fossil Record), Sharkabet: a Sea of Sharks from A to Z, Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway, Amazon Voyage: Vicious Fishes and Other Riches, and Blue Seas, Green Seas. Most of the museum shows grew out of book projects.
Make sure to check out all four galleries of images below:
Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway
An Epoch Tale of a Scientist and Artist on the Ultimate 5,000 Mile Paleo Road Trip
This is artwork from my first book collaboration with paleontologist Kirk Johnson back when he was working as a curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.The book was published by Fulcrum Press in 2007 and continues to do well. In 2009 the Burke Museum opened a fossil filled exhibit based on the book. That show went on to tour museums across the USA.
Planet Ocean, Dancing to the Fossil Record
Planet Ocean, published by Ten Speed Press in 1994, was a wonderfully fruitful collaboration with my pal author Brad Matsen. It has been described as a “great pop-paleontology book with fabulous art that inspired a show that toured the nation’s natural history museums. In its own way it has inspired many people to take a new look at the fossil record and imagine creatures and things as they might have been—a blend of word and image unlike any other.”
Blue Seas, Green Seas
This series of small colored pencil drawings depicts how marine life responds to changes in ocean conditions. Using different shades of color, green for high ocean productivity, and blue for low ocean productivity, viewers can see the different species that flourish in one regime over another. The artwork was commissioned by NOAA Fisheries for a mural project designed specifically for the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Pacific Grove, California. The drawings were displayed in a an exhibit at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History in 2011.