Barry Van Dusen is an internationally recognized wildlife artist living in Princeton, Massachusetts. Barry has illustrated many publications for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and his bird illustrations have appeared in books published by the American Birding Association, HarperCollins, Princeton University Press and Cornell University (Comstock Publishing). His paintings have been featured in Sanctuary Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, Birder's World, Wildlife Art and Yankee magazines.

Barry lived in Harvard from 1963 to 1977, and spent a good part of his childhood exploring the woods, fields, streams and ponds near his family's home on Bolton Road. It was here that he first developed an interest in nature, and in particular, birds. He explains, "Our neighbors Cloyce and Robert Reed were keen naturalists and generously invited my brothers and me along on birding excursions to Great Meadows, Plum Island, and other exciting destinations. At Bromfield, my biology teacher, Dorothy Andrews, taught me to bring a scientific rigor to my observations of nature and instilled in me a lasting environmental ethic."

During his college years at UMass Dartmouth in the 1970s, Barry worked at Fruitlands Museums during the summers. He recalls, "My duties were primarily of the grounds-keeping and janitorial variety, but I took every opportunity to admire the Hudson River Landscapes on view at the Picture Gallery, or to pause in my outdoor tasks to savor the calls of meadowlarks and bobolinks drifting across the fields."

Many years later he returned to Fruitlands as the 2010 Artist-in-Residence. Through the spring, summer and fall, he visited the museum regularly and worked on location, producing thirty finished watercolor paintings of birds, butterflies, plants and landscapes. A few of those paintings are included here.

Back in 1994 Barry was elected a full member of Britain's Society of Wildlife Artists and he contributes annually to their London exhibition. His paintings appear regularly in the prestigious BIRDS IN ART show (Wausau, Wisconsin) and in the Art of the Animal Kingdom at the Bennington Center for the Arts (Vermont).

At the invitation of the Artists for Nature Foundation, he has traveled to Spain, England, Ireland, India, Peru and Israel, working alongside other wildlife artists to raise money for conservation of threatened habitats. In 2007, he was chosen to create the UK Habitat Conservation Stamp (the British counterpart to the US Federal Duck Stamp), and was the first American to be so honored. See more of the artist's work at www.barryvandusen.com..