Artist's Field Guide to Yellowstone

Original works by artists and writers celebrating Yellowstone's diverse flora and fauna

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The Artist's Guide to Yellowstone introduces readers to the wildlife of the world's first national park through the works of fifty of the region's distinguished writers and artists. Yellowstone naturalist, artist, and educator Katie Christiansen has assembled a robust anthology of the traditional field guide (facts and illustrations on flora and fauna) with an enlivened, often whimsical view of nature through the eyes of area artists.

This approach embodies the ethos of Christiansen's work, which is to foster meaningful connections between the region's people and its environment. The book's format features artwork and writing to remind readers of their personal connections to the natural world.
The guide features twenty-five plants and animals prevalent to the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, organized across four habitats-sky (birds), earth (mammals), soil (plants), and water (fish and bacteria). Each species is paired with a writer and artist, with entries including a visual identifier (say, tracks or seed pods), a detailed illustration of the species, a description, the common and scientific names, and several illustrations of an associated species. The grizzly bear entry, for example, has an illustration of fireweed, a plant that supplements the bear's consumption of hoofed mammals during the summer months.

The Artist's Field Guide to Yellowstone shows that we need both creative and scientific interpretations to engage with and understand the natural world. Contributors hail from the Greater Yellowstone area. Writers are Elise Atchison, Rick Bass, Todd Burritt, Tom Campbell, Lyn Dalebout, Matt Daly, Joanne Dornan, Gary Ferguson, Matt Hart, Geneen Marie Haugen, Susan Marsh, Craig Mathews, Arthur Middleton, Doug Peacock, Karen Reinhart, Kelsey Sather, Jack Turner, Rebecca Watters, Tina Welling, Marylee White, Connie Wieneke, Todd Wilkinson, and Terry Tempest Williams. Artists are Kalon Baughan, Tamara Callens, Meredith Campbell, Sue Cedarholm, Derek DeYoung, Loretta Domaszewski, Katy Ann Fox, Dave Hall, Dwayne Harty, Laney Hicks, DG House, Will Hunter, S. J. Kariko, Laney, Jennifer Lowe-Anker, Mimi Matsuda, James Prosek, Robert Schlenker, Jocelyn Slack, Tucker Smith, Kay Stratman, Kara Tripp, Shannon Troxler, Kathryn Mapes Turner, John Wasson, Carrie Wild, and Monte Yellow Bird Sr.