About Bruce Tarkington

Bruce is a native North Carolinian, born in Sea Level, NC.  After graduating from Auburn School of Veterinary Medicine in 1980, building Parkwood Animal Hospital in Durham, and then retiring from a happy veterinary career in 2010, he toyed with becoming a coastal realism artist.  Coastal North Carolina has been his main focus since starting to draw and he has been fortunate to have held two solo exhibits in Cary, NC, a five month long showing at the Core Sound Museum in Morehead City, two winery showings, and has drawn several commission pieces of coastal NC and Virginia.  In 2018 he was asked by The NC Capitol Foundation to draw a collection of drawings of the North Carolina capitol, and presented one to the governor to hang in the executive mansion.  His work has been on the cover of the national AVMA Journal and also has a book illustration in the recent book, South River to his credit.  

He enjoys his life in Cary with his wife, Beth and has a son working in Snoqualmie, Washington while living his dream.