WFS 299 – Fish Worship and Art with Ray Troll

Show Notes: wetflyswing.com/299

Presented By: Jackson Hole Fly Company, Stonefly Nets, Trxstle, Anglers Coffee

Sponsors: wetflyswing.com/sponsors

Ray Troll, a guy who has some of the most unique fish artwork, is here today to share the story of how he got started with his career as an artist and how he became so fascinated with fish. We hear about the inspiration behind some of his famous pieces including, “Spawn Till You Die” and “Fish Worship, Is It Wrong?”. We dig into some of his books – how they came to be, and even get a hint about his upcoming book, Fish Head.

Ray also tells us about his podcast called, Paleo Nerds covering some very interesting topics about art and science. If you don’t know Ray, you are in for a treat today. His art, which some people describe as “Scientific Surrealism”, has a touch of humor and horror.

Show Notes with Ray Troll

07:14 – Someone described Ray’s art as “Scientific Surrealism” and somehow Ray agrees to it

08:01 – Linda Leary, founder of FisheWear was on the podcast at WFS 280

08:17 – Ray lives in Ketchikan, Alaska and it rains a lot there – you have to be a Pluviophile to like or appreciate living in his area

11:27 – Ray Troll’s Fish Worship – Is It Wrong? – he dreamt about this one

13:40 – Ray and Brad Matsen wrote Shocking Fish Tales (1991)

14:23 – Ray and Brad did a second book called, Planted Ocean: Dancing to the Fossil Record (1994)

18:43 – Ray has his Saber Tooth Salmon piece at the Oregon Coast Aquarium exhibit (Cruisin’ the Fossil Coastline Exhibit) – this art was inspired by a real salmon, a 5 million-year-old giant salmon

24:45 – Ray’s salmons swimming in a forest mural at the University of Alaska

25:26 – Ray’s mural at the University of Washington called, Fishes of the Salish Sea

27:53 – Take the fish quiz here – see how many fish you can name

28:56 – Ray Troll has a podcast called Paleo Nerds

30:26 – What a Sea Squirt looks like

34:13 – Elpistostege

34:23 – Tiktaalik

36:39 – Dr. Neil Shubin was on the Paleo Nerds podcast and talked about his book, Your Inner Fish

37:15 – John Long was on the Paleo Nerds podcast 

37:39 – Next year will be Ray’s 40th year living in Alaska

38:20 – Ray tells the story of when he first got to Alaska

49:10 – That artwork Ray drew of himself waking in the middle of the night being haunted by that salmon and rockfish that he killed

53:14 – Ray wrote a song called, Fish Worship – Is It Wrong?

53:49 – Ray tells the story of how the Paleo Nerds podcast came to be

59:09 – Ray gives a shoutout to Jerry Smith – Jerry was on his podcast

1:01:44 – Ray’s got another booking coming called, Fish Head which will be published by Clover Press

Conclusion with Ray Troll

Ray Troll shared the story of how he got started with his career as an artist and how he became so fascinated with fish. He told us about the inspiration behind some of his famous artwork and books. Ray also told us about his podcast called, Paleo Nerds covering some very interesting topics about art and science. 

Show Notes: wetflyswing.com/299