Making Art Books with Ray Troll

In his studio on a hill above Tongass Narrows in rainy Ketchikan, Alaska, Ray Troll creates fishy images that swim into museums, books, and magazines, and onto t-shirts worn around the world. He draws his inspiration from extensive fieldwork and the latest scientific discoveries, bringing a street-smart sensibility to the worlds of ichthyology and paleontology.

Ray’s unique blend of art and science evolved into a traveling exhibit, “Dancing to the Fossil Record,” that opened at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco in 1995. The exhibit included his original drawings, gigantic fossils, fish tanks, murals, an original soundtrack, a dance floor, an interactive computer installation, and the one-of-a-kind Evolvo art car. In 1997 the exhibit traveled to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, in 1998 to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and in 1999 to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.