Nathan Closson

Species: Mallards
Entry Title: "Mallard Morning"
Conservation Message: "Now is the time to conserve."
Medium: Acrylic
Artist's State: Montana

18-year-old Nathan Closson of Whitefish, Montana, was selected from among winners representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa to win the 2002 Federal Duck Stamp Contest. Closson’s painting was used on the 2002-2003 Federal Junior Duck Stamp, the sales of which benefit conservation education programs.

At the time of his win, Nathan Closson was already an acclaimed wildlife artist. The winner of various local, regional, and national art contests, Nathan also is an award winning bird carver, placing second at the Ward World Wildfowl competition when he was only a freshman in high school.

A native of Whitefish, Montana, Nathan acknowledges his success has been due, in part, to the instruction he received from his mother, Bonnie, also an artist, and from his art teachers, Lonnie Collingsworth, Sutton Finch, and Judy Jamison. In 2002, Nathan also was named as a National Merit Scholar and awarded a scholarship to Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California, to study art and music.