On the hunt for glory - Win or lose, Peshtigo artist always draws
By VIKKI ORTIZ vortiz - Posted: Nov. 21, 2004

He draws turkeys.

Every year, Nemec enters a drawing in the state Department of Natural Resources' Turkey Stamp Design Contest. He spends hours finding the perfect turkey photograph to work from, then hours more detailing each feather with colored pencils.

But unfortunately for Nemec, there's one more part of his turkey contest-entering routine.

He never wins.

"It's rough," says Nemec, 30, whose turkey drawings have made it to the top three in recent years but have never won the coveted first prize: a personalized plaque and 10 free copies of its reproduction.

Nemec has had similar bad luck in the DNR's water fowl, trout and pheasant stamp contests; he has entered at least one of them for almost a decade. In all those contests, his drawings have placed in the top three a whopping 21 times.

"The first time I got first runner-up, it was the coolest thing. The second time, it was still pretty exciting. But after that, it's like, 'oh,' and I just go back to what I'm doing," says Nemec, a Bunyanesque man with a dark brown beard and gentle eyes.

Nemec has dreamed of being a professional artist since he was a young boy growing up in the northeastern woods of Amberg. While on fishing trips with his uncle, he was inspired by the deer, fish and birds. He went on to study all types of art at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, but it's the wildlife drawings he still loves best.

Those who are close to Nemec probably have a wildlife scene hanging in their home. His garage door is covered with a wooded scene at sunset. And the town of Wausaukee hosts the biggest art project he was ever commissioned to do: a 100-foot mural with eight wildlife scenes.

"I never wanted to be anything else but an artist," says Nemec, who sells some work by word of mouth but took a job doing construction at a lumber yard to help pay the bills.

Nemec began entering the DNR stamp design contests after a high school art teacher told him it would be a great way to have his work noticed. Since then, Nemec has graduated from college, married and recently had his first son.

He's still never won.

"Every picture he does, I say, 'he's got to win, he's got to win,' " says his wife, Kelly Nemec. "I get just as upset as he does when he doesn't."

Andrea Mezera, contest coordinator for the DNR's bureau of wildlife, says there are actually a few people like Nemec whose names turn up on entries each year. About 18 artists from across the state enter the turkey stamp competition annually. The entries, which are accepted from Nov. 1 through Dec. 20, are judged by members of the National Wild Turkey Federation based on anatomical correctness and proper habitat setting, among other criteria.

Mezera would love to award each artist because proceeds from the stamp - sold to turkey hunters for $5.25 when they purchase licenses - go toward restoring wildlife. But only one artist can get the winning phone call, she says. The rest receive their certificate in the mail.

By now, one wall of Nemec's art studio is dedicated to the framed first runner-up, second- and third-place certificates. Around his chair, colored pencil shavings are stuck in the carpet. Glancing over at his 3-week-old son, Nemec says he is more determined than ever to win the contest. "I just want him to be proud of me."

The 30-year-old Nemec, who sells his wildlife works mostly by word of mouth, began entering the Department of Natural Resources' annual stamp design contests after a nudge from his high school art teacher.

John H. Nemec Jr. of Peshtigo has always been surrounded by nature's animals, and it reflects in his colored pencil drawings that he enters in water fowl, trout and pheasant stamp contests held by Wisconsin's DNR.

Each year, John H. Nemec Jr. of Peshtigo enters the Department of Natural Resources' Turkey Stamp Design Contest. So far, he's come close but hasn't won.