Tim Bovard

Bio

Tim Bovard grew up in Claremont, California where his father was a Chemistry Professor at the Claremont Colleges. His mother took him to the museum now known as the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on a regular basis, where he was fascinated by the Diorama Halls. To further his fascination, Bovard began doing taxidermy at age 10 from instructions in books, worked in a commercial taxidermy studio in high school and completed a State of California Apprenticeship program as a journeyman taxidermist in 1974. Bovard showed immediate skill in the art and won awards at Taxidermy Review competitions and seminars beginning in 1977, before beginning his career on staff at NHMLAC in 1984 as a taxidermist and model-maker. In his more than 40 years at NHMLAC, Bovard has worked on every diorama in the building, and maintains much of the information, files, and reference materials for the Museums’ diorama work since the 1920s. Bovard has contributed to dozens of exhibitions seen around the world and been featured in media such as Good Morning America, Forbes, L.A. Times, and National Geographic—as well as the 2019 documentary Stuffed. He is the last remaining full-time taxidermist in any North American museum.