bio.

You have arrived here because you demand excellence in taxidermy.
Welcome to Amy's Animal Art.

Taxidermist Amy Ritchie began her journey into the art in early 2000, at the young age of 13. Starting with nothing but roadkill animals her father would bring home for practice, found along his early morning newspaper route.

In the early days, with a limited budget, Amy practiced creating taxidermy out of whatever was on hand. The work was rough, but it set a framework for learning animal anatomy, innovation and creativity. Thinking "outside the box" would be useful later on.

Local taxidermists helped out the hopeful taxidermist to be, providing specimens and tools. In 2002, at the age of 15, Amy attended her first ever taxidermy competition. Go big or go home- The National Taxidermy competition. The specimen was a red squirrel, curled up asleep on a bed of fall leaves. The body was handmade out of twine and cotton, and titles "Golden Slumbers". Rather than enter the youth division, the choice was made to enter the Professional division. More difficult requirements, with a better critique and learning experience. "Golden Slumbers" got a 3rd place in the Professional Division. The fire had been started!

The following year, Amy attended the Nationals again with a showpiece depicting a field mouse - Small but mighty, a difficult specimen to conquer for those with larger hands. Conquering dozens of entrants, the mouse won the title of National Champion, branding Amy as one of the youngest to have ever won a National title.

Over the years, this hobby morphed into a full time business before even graduating high school.

Juggling school, commisioned work for local clients, and competition became the ultimate challenge. Some of the competition titles won over the years include:
Breakthrough Best of Show (NC) 2007
Breakthrough Best of Show (SC) 2014
Big Rock Taxidermy Championship "Grand Champion" 2015
2nd Place Masters Division World Championships 2015
Breakthrough Best of Show (WV) 2016

Fast forward another decade - Amy, now a single mom to two young children, has retired from competition for now and focuses more on soley creating custom pieces of taxidermy for the most descriminating clients.. As a mammals-only studio, no birds or fish are excepted but mammals are welcome, both large and small. From mice to giraffes, Amy's Animal Art is the south's premier mammal taxidermy studio.

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