Ken was born and raised in Northern Illinois. As a child his parents recognized his artistic abilities from his drawings of cartoon characters to landscapes so they enrolled him in an art school. He continued to take as many art classes as he could through his high school years and into college. His studies were from drawing and painting to sculptures of clay and wood. However, some of his earliest memories were those of fishing the creeks winding through the farmlands of Northern Illinois with his parents and grandparents.

 

As an adult Ken was becoming more and more of an avid fisherman. He has fly-fished some of the best trout streams in Michigan to trolling the vast open waters of the Great Lakes. It wasn't until the early 80's when Ken combined his artistic talents with fish when he had his first, last and only fish mounted by another taxidermist. When he received that fish and hung it on the wall he stood back to observe it and immediately said "I can do that!" From that point on Ken has become a well known fish taxidermist in his home town and the surrounding area of Rockford, Illinois. When he started his fish taxidermy business his motto has always been "Providing Quality Fish Re~Creations from an Artistic Point of View!"

 

With the advent and the ever growing popularity of "Catch & Release" Ken has progressed into doing "Typical Reproductions" with the uncanning ability to finish and paint them with realistic likeness. That ultimately led Ken into what he calls "The Ultimate in Fish Replicas, Ken's Fish Sculptures." These sculptures are truly for the angler who absolutely demands the ultimate replica of their trophy fish. Ken says, "We may fish all our life for that Fish-Of-A-Lifetime, so why not do it justice, release it and replace it with a One-Of-A-Kind replica, Ken's Fish Sculpture."  Ken also offers the art enthusiast of three dimensional arts his wood fish sculptures that are so highly detailed that you would believe that they are a real fish. What make "Ken's Fish Sculptures" different from others is that he pays an unbelievable amount of attention to the details of live fish for which he applies to all his sculptures. The high density urethane is a medium rairly used but lends itself to this detail very well. Ken has made his own handmade tools to achieve this high degree of detail for both his urethane and wood sculptures. Then there's the painting process for which various methods and techniques are used in layers to give his sculptures the depth of that of a live specimen. Even the eyes are painted on most species to give his fish their unique look.

 

Ken welcomes you and invites you back to visit Ken's Fish often as he is always working on new projects and will update his site often. Thank you for visiting Ken's Fish and "book mark" this site now, you'll be glad you did!