Born and raised in British Columbia where he lives today, Ron Parker is recognized as one of the top wildlife artists in North America.   His original acrylic paintings are avidly sought after and most of the limited edition reproduction prints of his work have sold out.

A full time artist for twenty six years, Ron has had fifteen successful one man shows in both Canada and the United States.   He has produced almost 500 wildlife paintings as well as a number of portraits and figurative paintings in his career.   He is constantly striving to portray birds and animals in their natural environment as well as explore other avenues of fine art such as impressionism and sculpture.    As an avid environmentalist, Ron is pleased to support projects aimed at preserving wildlife and nature.   He was one of sixty artists who contributed to the book, Carmanah, Artistic Visions of an Ancient Rainforest.

Ron has spent many hours hiking and photographing in such diverse places as the Northwest Territories, Kenya, Costa Rica and the Rocky Mountains gathering first hand knowledge of his subjects and their environment.

He has been featured in many publications including Wildlife Art News, U.S. Art, and Art Impressions magazines.   Four of his paintings have been selected for exhibition in the Birds in Art Show at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and he was one of twelve artists featured in the book From the Wild.  Twenty five of Ron's paintings are featured in the book Voices from the Wild published by Raincoast Books in Vancouver and a further 14 paintings are in a book he has also authored, Rocky Mountain Wildlife, in 1999.

Ron and his family lived in the Kootenay River Valley near the Rocky Mountains in Southwest British Columbia where they enjoyed almost daily sitings of coyotes, deer, elk and many species of both raptors and songbirds.   This part of the country provided the inspiration for a large proportion of his paintings over the years and will continue to do so.   The Parkers have recently moved to Victoria, B.C. where the coastal environment is providing inspiration for his Garden series of paintings featured in an article in Birds and Blooms magazine.

Since the move to Victoria in 1997, Ron did portraits by commission and has done a one man show titled In Praise of Women which featured both portraiture of women in acrylic on canvas and in sculpture.  The show was very well received in both Vancouver and Victoria.

In 2003, Ron began painting landscape in a contemporary style with detail exchanged for emphasis on form, colour and mood.   This style has met with considerable success at the Avenue Gallery in Oak Bay on Vancouver Island.   Three one man shows have sold well, met with rave reviews and his contributions to the annual ‘small pieces’ show in December each year have sold out each time.

Ron Parker is also an accomplished track and field coach, has completed his Level 4 International Coach diploma at the National Coaching Institute and has coached many National Champions, record holders and a member of the Canadian Olympic Team.  He was also a scholarship player in basketball, a national record holder in high jump and hurdles indoors, national senior champion in decathlon and is currently coaching 14 athletes in track and field for the Pacific Athletics Club.  He is also a published author in coaching track and field and has been a National Team coach on two Canadian Teams.


One Man Shows:

May, 1981              Hyatt Regency Hotel, Vancouver, British Columbia
October, 1983        Beckett Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
October, 1985        Beckett Gallery
May, 1986              Pacific Wildlife Gallery, Lafayette, California
May, 1987              Pacific Wildlife Gallery
October, 1988        Beckett Gallery
November, 1988    Pacific Wildlife Gallery
November, 1989    Frameworks and Wildlife Gallery, Barneveld, New York
May, 1991              Pacific Wildlife Gallery
February, 1993       Grasslands Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
May, 1993              Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, B.C.
October, 1993        Rocky Mountain Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
May, 1994              Featured Artist, Vancouver International Wildlife Art Show
                              Vancouver Convention Centre
April, 1995             Harrison Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
June, 1996              Harrison Gallery
April, 1997             Germanton Gallery, Germanton, N.C.
November, 1997    Harrison Gallery
April, 2000             Harrison Gallery
March, 2002           Goward House, Victoria, B.C.
October, 2003        Goward House
October, 2005        The Avenue Gallery, Victoria, B.C.
October, 2006        The Avenue Gallery
November, 2007    The Avenue Gallery

Commissions:

1993      Commissioned by the Royal Canadian Mint to do a set of four coins depicting the Sea Otter as a Collector Edition of $300, $150, $50 and $30 coins along with artists Glenn Loates, Robert Bateman and George Mclean who are doing similar sets.  Released as the 1994 Platinum Coin Set.

Juried Shows:

1985    Painting Wings Over Winter selected for the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Birds in Art Exhibition and Tour.

1986    Robin in Cherry Blossoms selected for the LYWAM Tenth Anniversary Birds in
Art Exhibition and Tour to China.

1986    Following Mama selected for the Society of Animal Artists 26th juried
exhibition at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California.

1989    White Tailed Tropic Birds selected for the LYWAM Birds in Art exhibition.

1996    Tea For Two selected for the LYWAM Birds in Art exhibition.

Bibliography:

March/April, 1981       Outdoor Canada Magazine
                                   Feature Article by editor, Sheila Kaighin
March/April, 1986       Wildlife Art News Magazine
                                   Feature Article by Tom Davis
May, 1984                   B. C. Outdoors Magazine
                                   Feature Article by Bob Jones
1986                            From the Wild Book published by Summerhill Press
                                    One of twelve artists featured in this book.
Spring, 1987                Art Impressions Magazine
                                    Feature article by Bob Jones  
November/ December, 1987  Midwest Art Magazine
                                              Feature Article by Caroline Mrzola
Spring, 1991                Art Impressions Magazine
                                    Feature Article by Bob Jones
March/April, 1992       Informart Magazine
                                  Feature Article by Leslie Marchando
May/June, 1992           U. S. Art Magazine
                                    Feature Article by Kathi Neal
May/June, 1994           U. S. Art Magazine
                                    Article by Sara Gilbert
May/June, 1995           Wildlife Art News Magazine
                                    Article by Terry Wieland
September, 1996         VOICES from the WILD   A book of poetry by David Bouchard,
                                    illustrated with twenty five paintings, published by Raincoast Books and
                                    distributed in the United States by Chronicle Books.
May, 1998                   Birds and Blooms Magazine.  
                                   Article by Ann Kaiser
June, 1999                   ROCKY MOUNTAIN WILDLIFE  A book of fourteen
                                    paintings and captions written by Ron, published by Raincoast Books.
January, 2002              International Artist Magazine  
                                    8 page article on portraiture and nude paintings
Published Prints:

Between 1982 and 1991, Mill Pond Press of Venice, Florida published limited edition reproductions of his paintings.  
Between September, 1991 and 1993, Ron published his own limited editions through his company, Wolf Creek Editions.
Between January, 1994 and June, 1997, Greenwich Workshop Inc. published limited editions of his paintings.
Since October, 1997, Bruce McGaw Graphics has published posters of his wildlife paintings.
Since 2000, Applejack Art Partners have handled the licensing of the wildlife paintings