In the highly competitive world of fine art, where building a national reputation might take decades, it is remarkable to note that 36-year-old, Montana-based wildlife artist Kyle Sims already has amassed an impressive list of honors, many of which were attained before he turned 30. In 2004, the Society of Animal Artists honored him with its Distinguished Young Artist Award, and the following year his work was included in the Arts for the Parks touring exhibition.

In 2009, Sims not only received a coveted invitation to show his work in the Prix de West Invitational at Oklahoma City’s Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, but also walked away with the Major General and Mrs. Don Pittman Award, the exhibition’s highest honor for a wildlife artist. Later that year, his work garnered him the Best of Show at the Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale in Cody, Wyoming, and in 2016 Sims was a featured artist at the Southeast Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, South Carolina.

Born in 1980 and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Sims’ journey from novice painter to successful professional has been an evolutionary process fueled by determination and hard work

Kyle Sims

On Marmot Grounds
Oil
30″x40″
“This piece is based on an experience I had up in Glacier National Park. I was hiking along a fairly busy and popular trail, when a young, male grizzly came up the hill from below, onto the trail in front of me. He did happen to go the other way from where I was, and there were a decent number of people on the trail that day so I wasn’t too alarmed, but it was still a wild grizzly, and who knows what might happen. He continued on down the trail, eventually dropping off to the right and, within a few minutes, began to fervently tear up the ground. I suspect that he was after a yellow-bellied marmot, as they were out in full force that day.”

Kyle Sims

The Last Three Yards
Oil
30″x48″
“There is much to be said from the gaze of any animal’s eyes. But the large feline has to rank up there as one of the most captivating. Add to that the intensity of a chase, and you then have a genesis for a painting.”