Duane Geisness was born in Chicago, Illinois where he also grew up; but it was on family trips to his grandparent's farm in the northern Wisconsin that he became aquatinted with much of the subject matter he paints today. He’s a graduate of the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and is very proficient in watercolor and acrylics. This has made him to share the spotlight with some of the leading wildlife artists in the world, among them John Seerey-Lester, Carl Brenders and Robert Bateman. His painting titled "Winter Lullaby" toured the US in the "Wildlife: the Artist's View" tour. It was a big tour that included the R.W. Norton Art Gallery, The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, the Center for the Arts in Vero Beach Florida, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. Geisness did a highly successful plate series entitled "Peace on Earth" for the Bradford Exchange of which over sixty thousand plates were sold.
Geisness has donated prints to the Yellowstone Association Wolf Research Fund in Wyoming in the interest of environmental preservation. YAWR is the organization that reintroduced wolves into Yellowstone National Park. The sense of serenity and peace that is so evident in much of his work is loved and enjoyed by many; even the National Wildlife Federation published Christmas cards with a number of his paintings. Geisness believes that working in the field doing quick sketches and gathering photo references are very important steps in the painting process, and probably the most enjoyable. He wanders through the countryside with camera in his hand, but the real work begins back at his studio in St, Charles, Illinois.
