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[bright acoustic guitar tune]

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♪

3
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(narrator) 
Fishing is a hopeful endeavor.

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Think about it.

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You enter 
into nature's realm

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with great expectation,

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even if your fishing 
is limited to a farm pond.

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And there you make 
sort of a bargain

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with the Divine,

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who will loan you His fish 
for a while

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just for the fun of it,

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although one could 
easily conclude

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that the fish aren't having 
nearly as much fun as you are,

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especially if you get to fish 
on a warm spring afternoon

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with your grandson.

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For Duane Raver, 
fishing and fish

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have been his way of life 
and vocation

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for a very long time.

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He's been catching 
and painting fish

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for going on eight decades.

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♪

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If you've ever seen 
magazine covers like these

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over the years,

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you've seen Duane Raver's art.

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♪

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It's little wonder 
that a fish just like this

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could find its way 
first onto canvas

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and then into print,

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and wonder more that Duane 
got into art at all

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after hearing what 
his high school art teacher

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had to say back in Iowa.

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"Mr. Raver, 
I just don't believe

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you've got a-- 
a future in artwork."

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(narrator) 
Clearly he did,

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but it took awhile 
for him to get the idea.

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(Raver) 
I was really surprised

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that I had that ability.

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I thought the kid 
right next to me in the desk

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could do exactly 
the same thing I could do.

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Well, obviously, 
it was a gift that I was given

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that most kids there 
did not have.

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I remember the one, uh, 
that I got paid for.

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The first-- 
my first assignment

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was the Fin and Feather News ,

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in Lufkin, Texas, 
and I got five dollars.

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I think that must have been 
about 1946 or '7,

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and I thought, 
"Whoa! That's great."

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So that was my introduction 
to professional artwork.

49
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(narrator) 
By 1949,

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Duane had finished school 
with a degree

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in fishery management 
from Iowa State College

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and was ready 
to tackle real life.

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Got a call one day 
from North Carolina.

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Friend of mine, uh--

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we had sort of 
a mutual agreement

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that if he got a job 
that I might be interested in,

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uh, he'd let me know, 
and vice versa.

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Well, he was first to call.

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"I'm leaving North Carolina; 
come down and take my job."

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The Wildlife Commission 
was only, uh,

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two or three years old 
and kind of an infancy,

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and certainly, 
the fish division

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needed a lot of, um, 
organization.

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(narrator) 
The new Tar Heel 
got right to work

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taking stock of fish 
in North Carolina's reservoirs

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and as it turned out, 
got to work

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helping put together 
the Commission's new magazine.

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(man) 
I think, for a long time, 
Duane was the magazine.

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I mean, Duane literally,

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for some years,

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did everything 
there was to do

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for the magazine.

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Duane would paint the covers.

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He would paint illustrations

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for the inside 
of the magazine.

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He would, uh, 
literally paste up the pages

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uh, when--

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when, you know, 
pages had to be pasted up

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and then shot, 
and the negatives, uh, were--

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were printed, um.

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Duane did everything.

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I mean, I think, really, 
Duane made this magazine.

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I think his paintings 
made this magazine.

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(Raver) 
I strive for accuracy--hah!

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What comes to mind 
was a cover that I did

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for the Wildlife magazine 
of a turkey gobbler.

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And, uh, 
it got in print,

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and about two weeks later, 
I got a, uh--a communiqué

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from a turkey hunter 
in Florida.

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"Mr. Raver, 
that's a nice gobbler on there,

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but it's the only I ever saw 
that didn't have any spurs."

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I had not put the spurs 
on the gobbler,

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so that was obviously 
in print,

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and I'll never live-- 
live it down,

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and so I've made 
some mistakes, um,

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in my checkered past.

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There's no question 
about that.

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(narrator) 
After his retirement

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from the Wildlife Commission 
in 1979,

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Raver launched himself 
full time

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into the freelance world.

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♪

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(Raver) 
Fishes of the Southeast 
United States--

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we did 150 illustrations,

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both fresh 
and saltwater there.

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Whoa, those have been used 
and used and used,

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which is great.

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(narrator) 
Despite his success,

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Duane sometimes 
seems to agree,

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at least in part,

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with his high school 
art teacher

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that he can paint this, 
but he can't paint that,

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and he doesn't consider 
himself an artist.

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(Raver) 
I--I classify myself 
as an illustrator

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as opposed to an artist, um.

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Now, you may say,

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Well, I don't see 
the differentiation.

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Well, uh, 
there is, uh,

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certainly, 
in my judgment, uh,

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considerable difference there.

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I cannot do abstracts.

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I don't do portraits.

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I had to learn 
to do, um, waterfowl, um.

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Demand--

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"Hey, can you do 
a goose painting

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or a duck painting?"

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"Well, yeah I can try,"

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and that took a while to-- 
to develop that.

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I was so into fish

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that anything else 
was a real challenge.

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I simply had to learn-- 
and I'm still learning there,

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so--whoa--after, whatever, 
70-some years just to be sure.

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Now, every day, I-- 
I learn something, I hope.

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(narrator) 
This ever-learning, 
ever-fresh artist

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has plenty of opportunity 
to hone his technique

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and paint even more 
new subjects

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because his daughter Diane 
operates a taxidermy business

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as part 
of their Wake County studio.

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Well, I do remember, 
he would work--

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paint at night

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when he would come home 
from work, so, um,

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I would spend time there 
in his--in his workroom,

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and he may have had a-- 
a duck wing, um,

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those kinds of things 
that he was workin' on.

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So that's a very early 
memory for me.

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(narrator) 
And that's not 
the only difference.

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Having Diane so close by 
has been a blessing...

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both ways.

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(Braswell) 
It's great.

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He works in this section, 
and I work downstairs

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in my section, um.

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Even though we work, maybe, 
together all day long,

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we may not have a whole lot 
of interaction some days,

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and then other days,

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he'll advise me 
on bill color of ducks

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or, uh, habitat material, 
things like that

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that he's, uh-- 
helps me with.

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I've done a lot 
of commercial deer heads

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over the years, 
but my, um--

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my preference 
was always with waterfowl.

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There's so many 
different species,

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different poses-- 
flying, standing, uh--

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a lot more interesting.

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♪

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(narrator) 
Both father and daughter 
consult the real thing

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from time to time,

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including a stash 
of bird wings

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Duane keeps 
in a file cabinet.

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When painting something 
as elaborate

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and finely detailed 
as this mother wood duck

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and her hatchlings,

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he often refers 
to actual specimens,

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much like Audubon did 
for his life studies.

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♪

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Now let's finish up 
with a story

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plus a keen observation.

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This is an original 
watercoloring

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that Duane Raver did in 1946

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when he was a student 
at Iowa State College.

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And this was found in a--

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in a--a pile 
of belongings, uh,

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from one of his college mates 
back in--in those days.

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And, uh, the daughter

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of the college friend 
found this,

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didn't know 
who Duane Raver was,

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googled the name,

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and found out 
that he was an artist and--

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and an illustrator 
famous in North Carolina,

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contacted Duane, and--

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and asked what to do 
with this original artwork.

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Duane said,

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"Send it to the Wildlife 
Resources Commission,

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and they'll be proud 
to display it,"

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and this is one 
of our proudest items

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we're glad to have 
from, uh, 1946.

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Even today, uh, 
when I go across the state,

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or sometimes people 
will call in

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or send a letter in,

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and they will talk about 
seeing Duane's paintings

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on the cover 
when they were growin' up

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or the fact that they have 
Duane's paintings

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in their house now,

203
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and how much pleasure 
they get from that,

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and I-- 
I think a large part of that

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goes back to them seein' 
those paintings on a cover

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when they were children,

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and, you know, 
Duane's paintings

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evoke, I think, a nostalgia, 
uh, for those people.

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I--I mean, 
I know they do for me.

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It's hard to think 
about wildlife

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in North Carolina

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and not think 
about Duane Raver.

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[harmonica concludes 
guitar tune]

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♪