As mentioned in my July 2014 post, carvers strive to tell a story in each carving. I looked for the story in bird carvings displayed at the Bird and Wildlife Carving Exposition sponsored by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island a few days ago.
The stories are short. Often the story is about what a bird is doing – a cardinal lifted feathers as it preens, a shorebird rested its bill on its back while sleeping. Sometimes the story is about how the birds live - a flock of miniature geese fed in shallow water, a pine grosbeak reached for berries from its upside down perch on a branch.
A small owl perched atop a rounded base that looked like cement with lichen growing on it told the story was that the owl was about to attempt to capture. I commented on the power of the intensity captured in the posture and gaze of this bird to its carver, Eric Kaiser, who launched into the story behind the carving. The rounded cement-like base was a replica of the top of a column at the site of an early twentieth century leprosy hospital on Penikese Island which is in the same chain of islands that includes Martha’s Vineyard. Graduates from the school for natural history that preceded the leprosy hospital founded the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.
There are stories behind the carvers too. Bird carving is a male-dominated art that is opening to women. This is particularly true in the specialty of carving decoys. June Noll told me that when she began carving decoys there was only one other woman carving decoys. She attended a large carving event at which decoy carvers usually gathered to carve together. Someone, not a decoy carver, encouraged her to attend because any decoy carver was welcome. Several men were already carving when she arrived. Every man put down his carving knife when June walked in the door and they refused to resume carving until she left!
The stories are short. Often the story is about what a bird is doing – a cardinal lifted feathers as it preens, a shorebird rested its bill on its back while sleeping. Sometimes the story is about how the birds live - a flock of miniature geese fed in shallow water, a pine grosbeak reached for berries from its upside down perch on a branch.
A small owl perched atop a rounded base that looked like cement with lichen growing on it told the story was that the owl was about to attempt to capture. I commented on the power of the intensity captured in the posture and gaze of this bird to its carver, Eric Kaiser, who launched into the story behind the carving. The rounded cement-like base was a replica of the top of a column at the site of an early twentieth century leprosy hospital on Penikese Island which is in the same chain of islands that includes Martha’s Vineyard. Graduates from the school for natural history that preceded the leprosy hospital founded the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.
There are stories behind the carvers too. Bird carving is a male-dominated art that is opening to women. This is particularly true in the specialty of carving decoys. June Noll told me that when she began carving decoys there was only one other woman carving decoys. She attended a large carving event at which decoy carvers usually gathered to carve together. Someone, not a decoy carver, encouraged her to attend because any decoy carver was welcome. Several men were already carving when she arrived. Every man put down his carving knife when June walked in the door and they refused to resume carving until she left!