Crookston exhibition to showcase nature and wildlife artist Ross Hier

ross hier.jpg — Ross Hier and his canine companion Raya, a black Labrador retriever, are pictured in this 2020 photo. An upcoming gallery exhibition at the University of Minnesota Crookston will feature artwork from Hier, a Crookston nature and wildlife artist.

By Staff Report

September 16, 2024 at 5:00 PM

CROOKSTON 鈥� Crookston artist Ross Hier will have a gallery of his work on display Sept. 23-28 at the University of Minnesota Crookston, with a reception planned for 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, in Bede Ballroom on the UMC campus. The UMC Agriculture and Natural Resources department will also have items from their wildlife museum on display at the gallery, including taxidermy specimens and native grasses.

Hier worked as an assistant area wildlife manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for 35 years and was an adjunct instructor at UMC for 15 years before retiring in 2016. He is a self-taught artist, whose love of nature shines through in his watercolor and acrylic paintings, drawings and duck decoys. A recent project with a fellow artist led to the creation of a 10-foot mural on the side of a building across from Cabela鈥檚 in East Grand Forks featuring Red River native fish species.

Hier is also known as a respected bird identifier and documented hummingbirds while on a trip to South America. His goal is to paint every hummingbird, and he鈥檚 currently two-thirds of the way.

ross hier hummingbird painting.JPG — Crookston wildlife artist Ross Hier is two-thirds of the way to his goal of painting every hummingbird species on the planet.

Hier鈥檚 art has been showcased at a number of exhibits in several states and he has won regional and national awards including the Northwest Artist of the Year by the Northwest Minnesota Arts Council in 2022 and the Jay N. 鈥淒ing鈥� Darling Memorial National Award by The National Wildlife Society for Wildlife Stewardship through Art in 2020. He was also a featured artist on Prairie Public TV in 2023.

Hier grew up in Jackson, Minnesota, and received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and master of science degree from New Mexico State University, both in wildlife management. The early part of his career was spent banding waterfowl and assisting with research, and the last part in Crookston overseeing management on nearly 30,000 acres of prairie and transition zone habitats. He lives in Crookston with his wife, Leela, and their dogs, Bibi, a black Labrador retriever, and Zarah, a brussels griffon.