Wynn Ponder is a self-taught charcoal and graphite artist whose conceptual style brings a fresh intimacy to the realm of wildlife art. While his realistic treatment honors the detailed beauty of wild creatures, his subjects also convey a fresh emotional inertia that elicits a sense of connection and empathy from the audience.

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He sometimes draws with pencils, but frequently manipulates media with paintbrushes and a variety of other applicators and blending tools. He often deepens dark areas with a mix of powdered charcoal and linseed oil. Each artwork takes from a few days to a few weeks to complete.

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Wynn has lived much of his life around wild creatures, both in the wilderness, and during his years volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary. He has been face to face in the bush with coyotes, great horned owls, deer, and many other creatures. He has cleaned tiger cages, fed giraffe, re-introduced rehabilitated raptors into the wild, and bottle fed snow leopard cubs.

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“I wish everyone could have the life-changing experiences I’ve had,” he says. “When you meet an animal one-on-one, you see an individual life being lived with the same urgency that we all feel as we make our way through the world. It’s this unanimity of emotion that I hope to arouse in people when they view my work.”

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Before turning his lifelong passions for nature and drawing into a career in 2023, Wynn was an award-winning film and video director, writer, and cinematographer.