About The Artist: Ken Hunter

Ken Hunter was born in 1947 in DuBois, PA and graduated from Clarion University in 1970 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Comprehensive Social Studies. He now resides in a rural setting near Muncy, PA. After teaching school for ten years, he left the teaching field in 1981 to dedicate himself to a full time career in the field of outdoor communications. Ken’s wife, Sheila, shares in running their diversified business which includes an art gallery and custom framing under the name Hill Country Gallery. They have two grown children, Kristin and Brian and three grandchildren. While most of Ken’s work centers on wildlife art, bronze sculptures, carvings and illustrations, he is also an outdoor writer, photographer, lecturer, former TV co-host with Pennsylvania Outdoor Life and has also appeared in several TV commercials.

Ken’s artwork and photos have appeared in many state, national and foreign publications including books and magazines. His art has graced the covers of magazines such as Pennsylvania Game News, Pennsylvania Angler, Fly Fishing Guide, Tackle Box (the “Field and Stream” of Japan), Fisheries (published by the American Fisheries Society), Ohio Fisherman Annual, Great Lakes Fishing Annual and the prestigious Sporting Classics magazine. His art has adorned the covers of a number of outdoor catalogs including Penns Woods Calls, MPI Outdoors and four covers for Woolrich, Inc. His photos and illustrations have appeared in the pages of many publications including Virginia Wildlife, Fly Fisherman Magazine, Pennsylvania Angler, Pennsylvania Game News, and many more. Ken’s illustrations have graced the pages of several books including one for a Time/Life Book series entitled “Mysterious Creatures”, also The North American Hunter’s Handbook by Marcus Schneck, Bass Fishing published by Quintet Publishing Limited and a Pocket Guide to Fly Fishing by Jim Gilford. Ken’s photos including a number of underwater photos are found in one of the most definitive books ever written about trout in general entitled The Wildlife Series-Trout published by Stackpole Books and his illustrations appear in another outstanding book The Wildlife Series –Deer also by Stackpole Books. In 1990 Ken was selected to paint a piece of art that commemorated the 75 the anniversary of the National Parks. He was invited to the White House to present the original to the then First Lady, Barbara Bush. Ken has also completed several large wall murals for the Audubon Society in Rhode Island, PPL’s Montour Preserve in Pennsylvania and a large mural and exhibit for the Army Corp of Engineers at Raystown Lake, PA. 

As an avid outdoorsman he has taken bear and elk in Montana and in 2009 he was fortunate enough to take the fourth largest bull elk in Pennsylvania that year- an 8x8 weighing nearly 800 pounds. He also participated in the American Wilderness Institute’s Survival Training school in Colorado and put his SCUBA diving skills to work in Loch Ness while in pursuit of the Loch Ness Monster.

In addition to painting, Ken writes a regular weekly column for the Webb Weekly which serves all of Lycoming County PA and beyond. He has also written outdoor feature stories for another local paper, the Daily Item and a number of other newspapers. Ken’s outdoor stories have appeared in Pennsylvania Game News, Pennsylvania Angler and other publications. Ken provides a number of lectures and seminars each year on a variety of subjects including wildlife art, fishing and fly fishing. For many years he was a regular seminar speaker for the National Wildlife Federation Summits throughout the country doing seminars on wildlife art, drawing, carving, fly fishing and general fishing skills. In October 2002 Ken joined the team at WNEP-TV where he served as the co-host of the weekly outdoor program, Pennsylvania Outdoor Life for six years. Ken is past president of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and formally served on the Board of Directors for the national Outdoor Writers Association of America. He enjoys hunting, fishing, shooting, camping, hiking, canoeing and SCUBA diving.