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About the Artist
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Like so many boys growing up, I had always hoped to
someday be able to make a living doing what I enjoyed so
much......being outdoors, and anything having to do with nature. My
growing passion for animals in any form, and my obsession with fishing
built a foundation and a wonderful understanding to all the ways to
enjoy the outdoors and everything in it. I loved to draw and paint,
and spent countless hours learning to put what I had seen on paper.
Fish were a favorite subject and specimens were readily available at
the docks in Oyster Bay, LI. “Sagamore Hill”, Teddy Roosevelt’s
home was just around the corner, and it was there, after many trips to
view his trophies, that my interest in taxidermy spurred a lifelong
passion.
Trips to the American Museum of Natural History, the Bronx Zoo and
Coney Island Aquarium became very frequent, and I could not wait for
my next lesson from the Northwestern School of Taxidermy to arrive in
the mail. Road kills were never left without examination, and my
salvaged fly tying materials were steadily turning into a nice
collection of skins, tails, wings and feathers. |
By ninth grade, I moved from LI, NY to Cumberland, Maryland. Great
Maryland fishing as well as Maryland turkey and Maryland deer hunting was everywhere in
Western Maryland, and I did as much as possible.
After graduation in 1971, I moved to Ocean City, Maryland and landed a
mate job on a charter boat and then a commercial long- liner. It was
there, that Maryland Taxidermy came to
mind. I learned to mold and cast reproduction fish. Winters
were spent hunting Maryland waterfowl and the wild Sika deer of
Assateague Island. I had plenty of specimens further my experience, and knew that becoming a Maryland Taxidermist was sure to happen.
In 1979, I moved from Ocean City to Kent Island, Maryland on the
eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. This area was then a Goose
hunting mecca, and hunters from everywhere came to hunt the Canada and
Snow geese. Maryland’s eastern shore, is also known for its heavy
racked trophy Whitetail Deer.
That year I opened Kent Island Taxidermy and became a Maryland deer checking
station. The combination of my fishing charter
business and new Maryland Taxidermist business worked very well
together. I joined the Maryland Taxidermist Association, served on
it's board and as president. I was co-writer of the Maryland Big Buck Contest as well implementing a Maryland
Taxidermist Licensing test, now required through the Maryland Dept. of
Natural Resources.
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Besides my USCG 100 Ton Ocean Master Unlimited Captains License, I was
also a registered and licensed guide in New York and West Virginia.
When the Maryland DNR implemented the new Maryland Guide License, I
was one of the first to qualify, and meet the requirements. Many of my
clients hunted and fished worldwide, and I saw the need to offer
assistance in Importing/Exporting their trophies. I applied for and
received a non designated port permit for game trophies as well as
becoming Maryland's first USDA Approved Establishment for restricted
products.
The opportunity to preserve so many diverse species has and continues
to be a very rewarding challenge. It had always been my intention to
maintain control over the technical and artistic aspects of taxidermy
and animal preservation.
From start to finish, it was my goal and has been to maintain a sole
proprietorship. Every completed trophy is totally done by me,
technically sound, anatomically accurate and artistically pleasing.
Anything is possible, and I look forward and enjoy pushing the limits
of “taxidermy”, as a respected art form. I love my job, and love
what I do...even after all these years...and look forward to many more
years of taxidermy, preparation and animal artistry. |
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