Guy William Koehne was born December 23rd, 1937 in Evansville, Indiana. His first artistic outputs were oil paintings and clay models he did between the ages of 11 and 14. As a college student at Kentucky Wesleyan College, he accepted one of the most prestigious awards the academic community can bestow- selection to Who's Who Among Students In American Universities and Colleges. Though he majored a degree in biology, he not only designed the Kentucky Wesleyan College seal which is still in use, but continued to passionately study and practice art and design.

Guy went on to earn a Master's in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University. He taught at Maryville College then The University of Kentucky while working on his PhD. In 1967, Guy Koehne moved his family to Hopkinsville where he took a position as the Director of the Microbiology Department at The Animal Diagnostic Lab, currently The Breathitt Veterinary Center.

During the early 1970's, Koehne spent his weekends on sketching trips across The Pennyroyal Plateau, an area of Western Kentucky that features forested, rugged hills populated with small picturesque farms. Inspired by the beauty of this unique area, he decided to document its landmarks, both man made & natural. These pen & ink illustrations are 19" x 24" and reflect much

of the style of drawings by early 19th-century Romantic landscape artists.

As a conservationist and a long time member of the Sierra Club, he helped fight a proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an impoundment of the North Fork of the Red River, a unique and scenic natural area within the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. In October 1975, with the help of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, the dam proposal stopped and in 1976, this unique area became a National Natural Landmark.

In 1982 at the age of 45 Guy left the scientific community in pursuit of a career as a full time artist. He began experimenting with layering wax pigment similar to the process of working with paints. His drawings shifted from the larger black & white landscape representations to colorful impressionistic compositions. These smaller 11" x 14" works feature highly stylized vegetation with a sort of Art Nouveau sensibility.

Up to the very end of his life in January 2006, Guy was still possessed with the passion that inspired him throughout his life. He saw the realms of science and art as one and although his contribution to scientific research resulted in the authoring of several publications, his legacy will surely be, in large part, his drawings.