Fredric Sweney

Fred Sweney (1912–1996) studied at the Cleveland School of Art and became an illustrator, painter, author, and teacher. Focusing on natural history subjects early in his career, he won a prize in an exhibition of bird art at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 1939. Sweney contributed articles and illustrations to national magazines including Sports Afield, Nature, Outdoors, and Outdoors Man. He created the artwork for the Minnesota-based Brown & Bigelow publishing company's wildlife calendars for 10 years. By 1956, he was a professor at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida, and wrote several instructional art books in the years to follow.