Speaking of something you need to experience first hand...

Here's one to put on your list - Right now there are thousands of bison in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park for the start of the bison rut (breeding season). It's a VAST valley - hard to comprehend it all and definitely not something you can capture in a photo. Again, it's one of those things you must see (and hear!) first hand.

If you can make it to Yellowstone in the next couple weeks, your timing will be perfect. Rut is just getting started and it lasts about a month - with a couple weeks shoulder season on either side. These 'breeding congregations' are the largest herds you'll see together for the entire year. This is when cow-calf herds and bachelor bands unite.

Once breeding season is over, they will split up again into smaller herds. The older bulls will leave the summer range in search of a place to winter. And smaller groups will form of adult cows, their calves, and female yearlings, with some younger bulls mixed in, but few older than three years old.

Living at the edge of Yellowstone, we live with bison. In the winter and spring, many leave the Park in search of food and often wander into Gardiner and through our yard. How many people in the world can say that? We consider it to be an immense privilege to live among them. As artists, how can you not want to capture them in oils and bronze?

A new sculpture of John's depicts a bison herd guarding a calf from a grizzly.

Ancient Dance - Bronze  by John Stacy
side view

Ancient Dance - Bronze  by John Stacy
top view

This painting was inspired by a quick view of a mother with a brand new calf - as they walked by the gallery, their backlit images caught my eye....

6" x 6"  oil  by Shirl Ireland
part of Yellowstone Squared

To learn a few more facts about bison, click here.