Archives

This section is devoted to pieces that were done for private collections, prize winners in competitions, or are unusual in theme and composition.

"Samurai" was my entry for the 1997 International Hawaiian Scrimshaw Competition and first place winner in the "open" category for best unique scene. This event was hosted by the Ye Olde Ship Store on Kauai for six years from 1996 till 2001 and gathered together some of the best work from scrimshaw artists around the world. It is done on a beautiful piece of mammoth ivory with a Ken Fredericks stand (as are the next three).

4 1/2 " X 3 1/4 " (ivory)

This was my entry for the 1999 International Hawaiian Scrimshaw Competition and won first place in the color nautical category. It shows Sir Francis Drake's ship the "Golden Hinde" along with a 1590 Hondius double hemisphere map showing the route he traveled circling the globe from 1577 to 1580. It is done on a fossil walrus ice adze.

2 3/4"X 12" (approx>)

"Warrior of the Plains" was my entry for the last International Hawaiian Scrimshaw Competition in 2001 and won first place again in the open category. It is done on a piece of mammoth ivory.

4" X 3" (approx.)

"The Franklin Expedition" was my entry for the 2002 International Marine Art Exhibition at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport. It won one of the five "awards of excellence" awarded that year. It commemorates the ill fated expedition of Sir John Franklin in 1845 to find the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is done on a fossil walrus tusk.

3" X 16 1/4" X 3"

This scene scrimshawed on a full antique walrus tusk was commissioned by a private collector. It is one of the most extensive compositions I have ever put together, inspired and influenced by the paintings of Frank McCarthy.

3" X 20 " (approx.)

I loved looking at the Kachina carvings that I saw as a boy in the shops in Santa Fe. The different designs and personalities of the spirits they represented were fascinating to me. Later, I was fortunate to observe the Shalako dances preformed at the Zuni pueblo by costumed Kachinas. This scrimshaw on a fossil walrus ice adze depicts the Hopi Eagle Kachina with the Walpi pueblo and kiva in the near background.

2 3/4" X 15" (approx.)

The bison hunt offers an exciting and dynamic subject to try to convey through scrimshaw. These two pieces are not my only attempts but probably my most successful. They also show the influence of the paintings of Frank McCarthy and Charles M Russell, two of my favorite artist of this subject. Both pieces are done on fossil walrus ivory.

As with the "Warrior of the Plains", scrimshaw is an ideal medium to explore the intricate detail of the headdresses and decoration worn by the tribes of the plains. This piece is done on fossil walrus ivory.

Perhaps more appropriate to the medium of scrimshaw and the ivory we do it on, the native cultures of the Arctic are also a fascinating subject. These pieces are a small sampling of some of the many I have done over the years with this in mind.

I have done several large compositions on fossil walrus tusks with Civil War themes. This one depicts scenes of the battle of Gettysburg.

A long time collector of my work made a surprise visit to my studio one day and saw that I was working on one of the old world globes. He looked at it a while and I thought he was about to say "I want one of those" when he instead said "Could you make a baseball out of that?" So we collaborated and came up with the idea of scrimming on the stitching of the ball and putting portraits of four of his favorite players around it along with the team insignias. Ken Fredericks finished up the project with the perfect mount including ivory panels for the players signatures.

2 1/4" dia (approx.)