In 1970, Marvin Oliver, a Native American artist of Quinault/ Soleta-Pueblo heritage, received his Bachelor of Arts from San Francisco State University. In 1973, he completed his Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Washington. Later, Oliver received a major fellowship grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art's handcrafted totem pole, Tetons, stands twenty-three feet tall and is permanently installed in the Museum's main hall. Amy and Ray Minella specially commissioned this totem for the museum when the building opened in 1994. In the upper right corner, the artist depicted the Tetons, the place where legends are born. To the right of the Tetons is the flying raven with the moon tucked under his wing. Swooping down from the mountains is the thunderbird carrying a "copper" in his beak. Copper represents the abundant natural resources of the Teton ecosystem. On each side of the copper are frog chiefs, adorned with ceremonial head ornamentation and both holding bundles of sage in their hands. Sage, a traditional plant used by Native Americans through the plains and plateau regions, is burnt to purify the local area with its smoke. The large grizzly bear in the center of the totem is the "Master of the Forest." Beneath the bear's head is Raven Boy, who carries a basket, which holds all his friends including the sun, the moon, and the stars. The gathering basket, "Seasons," is made up of woven symbolic patterns, each band representing an aspect of one of the seasons, including the first snow, the arrival of spring, early spring flowers, fireweed, trees, butterflies, and salmonberries. Adjacent to the basket sit a beaver and a little bear cub. The beaver, architect of the forest, emerges holding onto a willow branch. The bear cub carries and shares the Native American's values to further preserve and protect the land for future generations. Fireweed and Indian paintbrush, the Wyoming state flower, border the beaver and the bear, representing the forests and the meadows of the Teton region.

Born in 1947, Leo recalls his preschool years living in Marshfield, Massachusetts at his grandmother's farm, where chickens, ducks and a goat named Mary, after his grandmother, roamed at large. He grew up spending time outdoors and surrounded by animals. During high school, Osborne won a scholarship from the Art Instruction School of Minneapolis, and also attended the New England School of Art in Boston.

Moving to the Maine Coast in 1970, he "dropped out" of school in order to live in the woods; he began painting signs to make money. In 1974, he started carving signs when his daughter Rachel was born, which led to his bird carving period. In 1990, he moved to the Pacific Northwest and furthered his interest in bronze sculpture. Osborne continues to investigate many mediums and potentialities in art, as with his paintings, which he refers to as "acrylusion," the fusion of acrylic paint over gold leaf gilded panels; he usually carves burl wood found on maple trees, preferring its density and lack of grain. His philosophy is that art transcends all borders and boundaries. He says: "To let it flow through me… the mind and spirit goes and the tool walks alone, I become the simple vehicle within which the creative source conveys its sacred, inner being. To be in the constant flow and rhythm of the dance is my true ambition and desire."

From a very young age, Dan Ostermiller was exposed to the artistic handling of the animal form; his father was a successful taxidermist, and this prompted him to decide that sculpting animals would become his life's work. Considered one of the foremost wildlife sculptors working in the United States today, Ostermiller is admired for his thorough knowledge of animal anatomy, his deft manipulation of line, form, and mass, and his tendency to approach his subjects with compassion and insight.

Throughout his career, Ostermiller has expanded his knowledge of wildlife and habitat with expeditions to Alaska, Africa, and all corners of the American West. His development has been a constant building and learning process. His sculptures capture a moment in time, implying a narrative, while depicting a mood. Ostermiller's personal experiences with animals are key to the design and character of each work.

Ostermiller began producing monumental sculpture in 1985, and since that time has executed numerous major commissions for museums, parks, and private corporations; in 1987 he was recognized by the governor of Wyoming at the dedication of one of his sculptures at the state capitol. His memberships include the National Sculpture Society, The Nature Conservancy, the National Audubon Society, the Society of Animal Artists, Ducks Unlimited, and the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep. He currently lives and works in Loveland, Colorado.

Jean-Baptiste Oudry followed in his father's footsteps to become a painter; Jacques Oudry had been a painter and art dealer in Paris and encouraged his son to pursue a career in art, as well. The younger Oudry began his studies at age eighteen with the Marseilles-based painter Michel Serre in 1704. The next year found Oudry beginning a five-year apprenticeship with Nicolas de Largillierre and also attending classes in drawing at the Academie de St-Luc and the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris. By 1708, based on his submission of a bust of Saint Jerome, Oudry had gained the status of master in the Academie de St-Luc.

Setting out on his own as an independent painter was challenging at first for Oudry. He accepted portrait commissions and painted still-life images to earn a living, works based on current trends in the art market in order to guarantee his income. He struggled to find a personal style during this period, attempting to distance his work from that of his master, de Largillierre. The year 1719 marked a turning point in Oudry's career, however, when he was accepted by the French Royal Academy as a history painter. He moved away from portraiture altogether, and his still lifes and hunting scenes gained in popularity. During the 1720s, Oudry's work with animal and hunting subjects surpassed that of the current foremost master of these types in France, Alexandre-Fransois Desportes, and Oudry gained the favor of the French King Louis XV. After 1724, Oudry was producing royal commissions exclusively.

Oudry's privileged position with Louis XV allowed him to be the most visible artist at the Salon of 1725; he was also given a solo exhibition at Versailles on March 10, 1726. After these successes, Oudry was given a job as a painter of tapestry cartoons at the royal tapestry works in Beauvais. He focused on producing designs for tapestries through much of the 1730s, only shifting his priorities back to painting in 1737, when the Salon exhibitions resumed regular, annual occurrence (there had only been one Salon, that of 1725, between 1704 and 1737). Because of his ability to paint for his audiences, Oudry was popular at the annual Salons for the rest of his career.

Throughout his mature career, Oudry operated a busy workshop as was customary in his time, which produced copies of his work to meet public demand. In addition, he was named a professor at the Royal Academy in 1743. Oudry trained his son, Jacques-Charles, to paint in a manner close to his own, thus ensuring the endurance of his legacy after his death in 1755.