Shark Tournament Data Collection

Keith Cowley with Dr. Greg Skomal

Shark Conservation Lecture at Bruce Museum

Keith Cowley with Wendy Benchley

Jaws Screening Exhibit at the Ocean Mist

First Open Exhibition - Living Sharks Museum

Keith Cowley on Ocearch Expedition Nantucket

Living Sharks Museum

KEITH M. COWLEY

CURATOR, SHARK HISTORIAN

Keith Cowley is a researcher, science artist and educator, deeply passionate about shark history and their future. For over 20 years he has recovered, prepared and preserved prehistoric sharks for exhibitions and private collectors. He has tracked down historical artifacts from around the world that detail the story of the shark culminating in his development of America's first shark history museum, Living Sharks Museum. To gain firsthand perspective over the years, Keith has taken part in shark research and conservation initiatives to be able to educate the public from his own experiences. As a shark historian and museum curator he aims to change the negative narrative that leads to the plight of sharks and give a stage to those working to protect them.

Keith Cowley began his shark story as a precocious youngster growing up on the Connecticut coast where he palled with his retired grandfather, a commercial fisherman. Captivated by sharks and ancient animals, he spent his high school summers diving and digging for prehistoric shark teeth in Maryland and North Carolina. After high school he followed project leads given by an encouraging teacher that set him on a path as an amateur paleontologist. Unable to afford college he trekked across the country using his artistic prowess to obtain interpretive exhibit design work. This work fueled the gas tank and opened up opportunities to gain more experience digging, preparing and exhibiting fossil material. A serendipitous meeting with a future employer in Arizona set him up for a job helping to design and then curate a new paleontology museum and area attraction back in Connecticut in the early 2000's called Nature's Art. He worked with Triebold Paleontology to layout and display several western species of prehistoric animals, including a forty-five foot marine reptile Tylosaurus proriger. He assisted with a related short-term exhibition at Mystic Aquarium titled Savage Ancient Seas. The museum eventually went from an exhibition gallery to full retail environment. So he switched focus to the development of educational programming and enriching exhibitions (which included sculptural concept design and signage for two dozen full-scale prehistoric animals set on a mile-long trail system). As the facility became a growing family attraction, Cowley parted ways and returned to traveling and digging up prehistoric sharks until the recession landed him in seaside Westerly, Rhode Island.

Cowley continued to fund his interests with art and design, including a gig with Animal Planet, while digging deeper into modern shark biology and conservation. As is his way, he took up opportunities to experience as much as he could without a degree. He had a chance to work on a dragnet trawler, to experience the commercial fishermen's perspective as an adult. Additionally he spent over five years collecting fisheries data on highly migratory species (including sharks) and monitoring shark tournaments as a NOAA contractor. He made friends and partners with conservation organizations to understand the differences in functional impact. As a Creative Consultant he has designed marketing campaigns, assisted partnerships, developed packaging designs, helping artisans launch products that give proceeds to proven conservation organizations through his moniker Wild Animal Trust. He has since been out on research boats and public expeditions to observe great white sharks, as well as experienced the shark tagging process aboard the vessel Ocearch during Expedition Nantucket. In 2018 Cowley transformed his art studio/ Living Sharks Project research office into the first iteration of Living Sharks Museum, housing artifacts from his travels as well as his personal collections of shark history and conservation. Cowley is utilizing the museum as a platform to advocate for threatened and endangered shark species, while developing unbiased educational materials and programming on and offsite. His goal is to "protect shark history and shark future", using facts and artifacts to teach and inspire future shark advocates.

Keith Cowley has been appointed to the Advisory Board with the Shark Research Institute.

In 2020 Keith Cowley came on board working under Steve Alten, author of the New York Time’s Bestselling MEG series, as Technical Advisor, Creature Concept Artist and Education Director: designing in part and consulting on all prehistoric and biological science details/continuity associated with the web series (Where Sea Monsters Roam) and interactive aquarium web experience Sea Monster Cove at Maug Island.

In 2021 Keith Cowley joined the team at 333 Productions, working alongside Joe Romeiro and Lauren Romeiro as shark research crew aboard the R/V Warfish. The team works together to research and advocate for sharks through the use of non-invasive progressive techniques and technology.