About the artist and author of the Condor: Spirit of the Canyon


 
  In the early 1990s, Larry Ormsby and Carole Thickstun designed and illustrated Survivors in the Shadows: Threatened and Endangered Mammals of the American West, written by Gary Turbak, for Northland Publishing in Flagstaff, Arizona. A children’s series developed from the adult book, and Mountain Animals in Danger, by Gary Turbak, included endangered birds. Carole and Larry needed research images for the book’s illustration and design. They learned of Robert Mesta while searching for images of condors.
Robert coordinated the California Condor Recovery Program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 1990 to 2000. In 1992, he directed the first reintroduction of captive-bred condors back into the wild in southern California. In 1996, he led the successful reintroduction of condors into the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. During this time, he worked hands-on with condors, as well as with Native American groups in California, themes that weave themselves into his children’s book. Robert’s efforts to re-establish condors in the Grand Canyon were recognized when he received the national Bojack Humanitarian Award for Ornithologist of the Year in 1996. 		 
   
  Robert was generous to Larry with his images of condors and knowledge of the species. Larry created a drawing of a condor with the Grand Canyon in the background. At this time, reintroduction of condors in the Grand Canyon was just an idea, a dream in Robert’s mind, as he headed up the condor reintroduction program. Carole mocked up a layout for a potential children’s book about Condors, and submitted it to the Grand Canyon.

Eleven years later, the Grand Canyon Association was looking through proposals, and came across Carole’s watercolor thumbnails sketches, reviewed the idea, and decided to publish the idea. “Frankly, when you first brought us this idea, we didn’t think the reintroduction would ever happen,” admitted Pam Frazier, former publications director. “But now, seeing as how I even had one in my backyard, the condors are here to stay and the public is interested in learning more about them. The time for a condor book has arrived!”

(left: Robert handles a captive condor)

 
  Robert crafted a story, using his knowledge of condors growing up, and his Native American ties to create a story that is nearly his own. Larry hiked the canyon, found great backgrounds and nesting caves, and together they crafted “Condor: Spirit of the Canyon.”

Robert Mesta currently lives in Tucson, Arizona where he coordinates the Sonoran Joint Venture, a bi-national bird conservation program between the United States and Mexico.

 

Larry Ormsby’s studio is also near Tucson in Ironwood Forest National Monument, where he observes wildlife, illustrates and creates original handprinted lithographs and etchings.

 (left: Robert with an eagle in Mexico)