T.
W. Richards was born January 9, 1929 in the small town
of Custer South Dakota. As a young boy he derived a great
deal of pleasure in exploring the beautiful Black Hills
on countless hiking, hunting, and fishing treks. These
expeditions helped foster T.W.'s lifelong love of and
respect for nature that, in turn, facilitated the development
of his keen sense of observation. Even at a very early
age, he demonstrated a real flair for being able to capture
the inherent being of an animal and bring it to "life"
on paper via his sketches.
Essentially a self-taught artist, T.W. has spent the
better part of the past five decades studying the movement,
form, and habits of the whitetail, mule deer, wapiti,
bighorn ram, bison, beaver, and pronghorn antelope.
The majority of his body of work is created in the field
while observing the various animal subjects in their
natural setting, fondly referred to by T.W. as his "old
stomping grounds," which include many fauna-rich
areas of the Black Hills such as Dutch Flats and Trojan.
T.W.'s drawings and field studies have also provided
the foundation for his lost wax bronzes (first casting
in 1976).
T.W.'s originals have been displayed and sold throughout
the greater Black Hills area. He was juried into a gallery
showing in Thoreau, New Mexico that highlighted several
of his bronzes. T.W. has also produced a number of commissioned
pieces. He most recently participated in the Deer, Dough,
and Van Gogh fundraiser with his entry of the "Experienced
Buck." T.W. has garnered regional acclaim and is
well recognized for his own unique style. Although private
collectors have enjoyed and appreciated his originals
for years, no limited edition prints of T.W.'s work
have heretofore been produced.*
T.W. currently lives in Lead, South Dakota with his
wife Cheryl. He divides his time between working in
the studio and sketching out in the field at one of
his favorite "stomping grounds." His goal
has always remained basically the same-- to create drawings
that invite you, the viewer, to step into a grassy Dutch
Flats-like meadow on a fine October day, lean up against
an old tree stump, and then suddenly "see"
a big whitetail buck bounding out of a grove of quaking
aspens.
*Dutch Flats Wildlife Art Gallery is
proud to be the exclusive purveyor of South Dakota wildlife
artist T.W. Richards' first limited edition print series
(printed by Blackberry Press 2004).
