Travis Gordon Keese

Travis Keese was a noted Texas muralist and wildlife artist. Born in Lyons, he grew up in Somerville, served in the Army, and graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 1963, he became the staff artist for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where he made massive (often exceeding 200′-wide) murals of Big Bend National Park, the Matador Ranch, the High Plains, and coastal grasslands featuring Attwater’s prairie chickens. His diorama work was remarkable in blending the curved painted backdrops with earth, grass, taxidermy and lighting.

In 1970, he settled in Kerrville, where he devoted his time to painting wildlife as well as preparing murals for the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, the Port Isabel Historic Museum, and the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. By the time of his death in 2023, Keese’s work had been widely exhibited and was held in several collections.