Creekside Art Gallery Blog

New World Folk Art evolved from art faculty discussions concerning plans to commemorate the Columbus Quincentenary at Cleveland State University. Unlike the last observance, which brought forth the influential Columbian World Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the current anniversary has stoked bitter controversy. Native Americans feel that there is little to celebrate. Many Americans look upon some aspects of this country’s history less positively than their ancestors and regard the future with increasing uneasiness. In light of these circumstances, the art faculty sought an idea that would recognize these feelings and still pay homage to the native-born and immigrant people of the New World. Various concepts were suggested until the importance of interactions between cultures and their effects on folk imagery were decided upon as the focus of this exhibition.

Centuries before Christopher Columbus voyaged to these shores, ancient cultures prospered all across the North American continent. Much was learned by native people as they adapted to their environment and innovated methods to improve their lives. One of the eventual results of contact with new foreign settlers was a cross-cultural sharing of ideas and technologies. The exchange of knowledge benefited both, and each new cultural influx added to an already rich and complex history.

Unfortunately, American folk art and artists have too often been regarded as individual phenomena and have not been considered as part of a larger social, cultural, or world context. New World Folk Art illustrates and explains how many of these diverse individuals fit into the matrix of influences that affect creativity. History delineates the effects of cultural exchange; an American identity is largely the result of that impact. So what does "American Folk Art" really mean? Without sound aesthetic and intellectual reasoning, American collectors have often valued artifacts made in the New World over items created elsewhere. However, an overall perspective facilitates a better understanding of the so called "purely American" origins of works of folk artists, both urban and rural, which might otherwise be conveniently categorized as "isolated," or "outsider." For example, the creations of Joel Peffley (1829-1917) of central Indiana might simply be identified only as those of an eccentric until consideration is given to the blend of factors that shaped his creativity, including his profession, family history, and social milieu. In art and folk art, a continuum often exists; and it continues to be our responsibility to discover and clarify its sources.

Folk art has an important, although as yet, underdeveloped place in the study of art history. As an art of the people, by the people, and for the people, it provides an honest, direct insight into prevailing attitudes and ideas of each generation. Many objects once known only to their makers are now highlighted in New World Folk Art.

Gene Kangas, Co-Curator

Introduction

For its legions of passionate admirers, folk art does not need to be explained by the compilation of facts, erudite history, and probing analyses. These objects are enjoyable because they possess powerful visual and tactile stimuli that act directly on the viewer’s emotions; they induce a deeply satisfying sense of aesthetic pleasure without making demands on the intellect. Although folk art often embodies complex ideas as well as difficult and obscure imagery, its appeal is visceral and its impact on the viewer is not calculated by its creator. Unlike some academic art which deliberately seeks to amaze the viewer with beautiful form and unusual color, dramatic contrasts, and surprising effects, folk art delights because it does these things out of an inner necessity, not from a need to dazzle the spectator.

In this regard, folk art is profoundly different from academic art. The academic artist is trained in school to internalize the theoretical and technical aspects of visual disciplines. Ideas of form, light, color, and texture, as well as principles of composition and means of expression, are learned in a systematic, structured manner. The academic artist is exposed to the history of art and art criticism and is expected to know how past masters in various cultures have manipulated subject, form, and expression to produce great art. Academic art thus derives from the applied study of traditional strategies of creation. The artist produces with a keen awareness of the goals and achievements of the discipline. Academic art constitutes a continuous stream of creation that flows from past practices and rushes towards future possibilities.

Folk artists may also have been educated in school, but they lack academic preparation in the visual arts. Typically, folk artists have learned the skills of a trade, such as carpentry, and are self-taught artists, or they acquire knowledge from another self-taught master. Oftentimes, family or cultural traditions are handed down from generation to generation and provide folk artists with the rudiments of making art. Since folk artists usually do not live in isolation from influences outside of themselves and their family or ethnic environment, they may also be aware of, or affected by, various forms of academic art in popular culture. While some may seek to emulate academic art, they do so from an untutored perspective. Their decisions about subject, form, and expression are intuitive, sometimes naive, and frequently surprising. Like academic artists, folk artists have varied technical abilities. They also possess a sense of what constitutes quality; many know when they make better works and poorer pieces, although they may not be able to articulate the reasons. They make objects from an intensely personal drive to create. They make art without being in the intellectual mainstream of the history of art.

Despite folk art’s "otherness" to mainstream art, folk art has its own history in many cultures. However, this history is a combination of styles and trends, and of individuals who, in response to an inner call, produced an amazing variety of objects. Folk art is almost invariably figurative or representational, except for abstract functional pieces. Folk art includes indoor and outdoor work, large and small pieces, single works and complex multi-piece installations, and ephemeral and permanent objects. These works, which are made in all variety of materials, parallel and often precede things done by academically trained artists. Nevertheless, students of folk art have yet to reach a consensus regarding a definition of their subject of inquiry. Jean Lipman and Alice Winchester point out, for example, that "the term folk art has been widely if not universally adopted, even though it may not be the most accurate or precise name." Although they admit that the term is problematic, they nevertheless propose that folk art might be considered "a traditional, often ethnic expression, which is not affected by stylistic trends in academic art." This traditional, and especially ethnic, quality of folk art provides the focus for the present exhibition.

In the exhibition, we have included many different types of objects, but we have also excluded several categories of folk art such as household utensils and portraiture. Basically, most of the objects were produced in North America by Native Americans and/or immigrants of European descent. The exhibit includes sculptures, ceramics, furniture, paintings, drawings, and textiles. With the exception of the furniture and textiles, these are primarily non-functional objects. While known artists made many of the works, some are by anonymous creators.

In keeping with the observance of the Columbus Quincentenary, which gave the initial impetus to the planning of this exhibition, most of the objects span the five hundred years of history since Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World. We have included a few objects outside of the thematic, geographic, and chronological parameters of the exhibition in order to illustrate artistic influences or continuities of tradition. The selections have been motivated by a desire to underscore the persistent ethnicity of folk art traditions. During the five hundred years of immigration to and settling of North America by people from all over the world, but particularly from Europe, cultural patterns and ethnic identifications have remained surprisingly strong and are vividly expressed in folk art. However, another phenomenon is also evidenced by folk art, and that is the interaction of immigrant and indigenous North American cultures. Soon after the fifteenth-century colonization of the New World, immigrants and Native Americans began enriching one another’s ethnic traditions. Since the Revolutionary War, this exchange has occurred between immigrants and the pool of cultures that constitute North American society. The New World folk art of this exhibition documents the survival of some of these separate ethnic traditions and the cross-cultural inspirations resulting from ethnic encounters. We have attempted to be as inclusive as possible, but we make no claim of presenting an exhaustive study.

Let us consider some examples of cross-cultural inspiration. Fish and wildfowl decoys represent an ancient Native American invention. Three fish decoys, the oldest objects in the exhibition, are nearly 3,000 years old. Native Americans created these functional objects with an evident concern for their effectiveness in attracting the abundant fish that filled the continent’s rivers, lakes, and seas. Some innate need, though, compelled the creators of these decoys to fulfill this practical need by sensitively transforming the materials into artistic fish-like forms. A similar process took place with wildfowl decoys, which changed an efficient hunting tool into an expressive object. An extraordinary example of this is the rare pre-colonial Bundled Feather and Tule Canvasback Decoy discovered in Nevada.

When European settlers observed the effectiveness of Native American fishing lures and waterfowl decoys, they began creating their own tools with which to hunt and catch the plentiful fauna of North America. However, the settlers brought Old World attitudes and traditions for producing objects. Their creation of lures and decoys led to the development of new forms and a variety of surface treatments, such as Harald Thengs’ Merganser Decoys. As diverse and imaginative as these Euro-American decoys are, they have not surpassed the exquisite functionalism and spare design of the Native American originals.

While European immigrants learned valuable lessons from Native Americans, the transmission of ideas was not completely one way. For example, in the Arkansas area of the Mississippi River Valley, Quapaw produced utilitarian and ceremonial ceramic vessels from clay. After contact with the explorers and traders, Quapaw started fashioning ceramic "teapots." Curiously, the teapots are less functional, although they imitate the Europeans’ teapot forms. These decorative designs illustrate the Quapaw fascination with a foreign form as it existed independently of its function.

Cross-cultural inspiration in folk art represents one aspect of encounters of Native Americans and European immigrants. The successive waves of settlers from the Old World brought new ideas, cultural values, and patterns of thought. Many settlers created their own communities in which their ways were preserved from generation to generation. While these ethnic characteristics are often obscured by the dominant traits of popular North American culture, they often survived relatively unchanged among folk artists. Certain craft traditions, such as wood and stone carving, are indicative of these persistent ethnic survivals. While carving is indigenous to many cultures, Europeans developed particular forms and patterns of ornamentation associated with their needs, beliefs, and aesthetic values. British trophy piscatorial portrait carving is one example. As an aesthetic substitute for taxidermy, carved wood trophies reproduce record catches and depict astonishing naturalistic detail. Akin to trompe l’oeil or fool-the-eye painting, in which the observer is led to believe that s/he is looking at an actual fish instead of a simulacrum, trophy carving combines the skills of sculpture and painting. This artistic tradition crossed the Atlantic to North America where record catches of game fish, birds, and animals were similarly commemorated. P.D. Malloch’s 50 lb. Salmon Trophy Carving, an example from Scotland, and Thomas Brayshaw’s 48 1/2 lb. Chinook (Tyee) Salmon Carving from Canada illustrate this continuity of tradition.

In addition to traditions of carving, European imagery also traveled to the New World. Christian figures, such as Jesus, Mary, saints, and evangelists, infuse much of religious folk art. Special favorites are the Madonna and Child (Mary and her son Jesus), the Stations of the Cross (events in the adult life of Jesus leading to his crucifixion and death on the cross), and individual saints (martyrs, defenders of the faith, guardians and intercessory figures). Perhaps, we should not be surprised that, with the first explorers, Christianity traveled across the Atlantic, but that Christian imagery also followed later and retains a strong hold on folk art. Silvio Zoratti’s multi-piece limestone Shrine exemplifies the faithful perpetuation of Christian themes in folk art.

Among immigrant groups such as the Amish for whom imagery of religious figures was forbidden, abstract (or more properly non-figural) designs predominate. The Amish, a Protestant religious sect that immigrated from Germany and Switzerland, today live in communities set apart from and are largely unaffected by their non-Amish neighbors. Stressing simplicity in their lives and avoiding use of most modern devices, the Amish have maintained a pattern of living that recalls rural pre-industrial Europe. Amish women quilt; this is a method of sewing several layers of fabric together to create a padded effect. While quilting exists in many cultures and among various ethnic groups in North America, the Amish practice a particularly elaborate method of sewing designs that produces ornamental, geometric, and floral designs. The quilting overlays bold geometric forms stitched together traditionally from relatively subdued and often somber colors, such as the elegant Center Diamond Quilt. The geometric patterns of diamonds, squares, bars, and zigzags produce haunting compositions that recall paintings of such modern masters as Piet Mondrian, Josef Albers, and Kenneth Noland. Ironically, the Amish developed their designs long before these twentieth-century artists began experimenting with non-figural, hard-edged geometric compositions.

Some ethnic groups, like African-Americans and Hispanic Americans, have special histories in the New World. African-Americans were forcibly separated form Africa through slavery and their cultural traditions survived clandestinely until relatively recent times. Hispanic-American culture is a mixture of New and Old World influences that has flourished in North America since the earliest European colonization.

Animal motifs, that in African art represent forces of nature, spirits, or deities, play a prominent role in some African-American folk art, although the symbolic associations have atrophied. Henry Gudgell’s Cane with Snake, Alligator, and Turtle illustrates a survival of African motifs. Animals also play an important part in the sculpture of Hispanic-Americans of the southwest United States, where traditions are passed from father to son. The animal sculpture of Felipe Archuleta, like his Cheetah, highlights this development. This production is related to two traditions: the vivid expressionistic portrayals of animal forms by Pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Mayans; and the exotic, florid forms of Baroque art transplanted to the Americas by the Spaniards and surviving in religious folk art statues and icons known as bultos and santos.

The cross-cultural inspiration and survival of ethnic traditions are dramatically illustrated in New World Folk Art. Native American, European, African, and Asian imagery in folk art retains its distinctiveness despite the pressures of popular North American culture. In one aspect, however, the popular culture of the United States has inspired immigrant folk artists. Symbols of the USA, such as the eagle, the Stars and Stripes, Uncle Sam, and Miss Liberty, have been enthusiastically utilized in folk art for their patriotic value and visual power. This "American" imagery evokes "the land of the free and the home of the brave," a country full of promise stretching "from sea to shining sea." The American Parade Costumes embody this spirit. Intended for each member of the family, young and old, male and female, these costumes bring to mind notions of the "melting pot," where all the world’s cultures happily intermingle and are cloaked in the unifying emblems of the "the cradle of democracy." While the patriotic ideals do not quite match reality, nevertheless, the vast land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has received the peoples of the world. Folk artists among them have left a valuable record of the traditions brought to these shores and of the inspiration drawn from one another during their co-existence for five hundred years in their New World.

John Hunter, Co-Curator

The following sections are selected catalog essays that provide further explanation of some of the artworks shown during the exhibition.

Schimmel Eagle

WILHELM SCHIMMEL (1817-1890, German-American), EAGLE, circa 1875; carved, polychromed wood, 14 1/8 x 8 in.; Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania; Shelburne Museum Collection, Bequest of Harry T. Peters, Jr.

Wilhelm Schimmel, represented here by a wood carving of an eagle, is one of the best known of America’s untutored whittlers. A German immigrant, Schimmel came to Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley around 1860, where he made a meager living as an itinerant craftsman for the next thirty years. Carved eagles with cross-hatching similar to Schimmel’s were common in Germany in the Middle Ages, and he seems to have drawn inspiration for his bold, vigorous designs from well-established German tradition.

All of Schimmel’s carving was done with a pocketknife, using blocks of pine. Knife marks were smoothed before painting with worn pieces of glass. Schimmel used ordinary oil-based household paint, often in vivid colors. He probably drew his paint supply from the dregs of leftover tins, which may help to explain the oddness of some of his color combinations. In addition to eagles, which he made in several sizes, Schimmel is known to have carved parrots, roosters, lions, dogs, squirrels, soldiers, and some representations of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Schimmel was an eccentric and something of a local legend in his time. On his death a local paper ran the following obituary: "’Old Schimmel,’ the German who for many years tramped through this and adjoining counties, making his headquarters in jails and almshouses, died at the almshouse on Sunday. His only occupation was carving heads of animals out of soft pine wood. These he would sell for a few pennies each…"

Robert Shaw

Fighting Game Cock

ANONYMOUS (English-American), FIGHTING GAME COCK, 1880-1900; carved, polychromed wood, 30 x 24 x 12 in.; Unknown region; Quay Collection

As craftsmen began arriving in the New World, they brought with them skills and ideas learned in their homelands. At home, some had been employed to carve trade figures and signs, ship figureheads, architectural embellishments, and other sculptural forms. Here, working for similar commercial shops, they began fashioning American eagles, an assortment of trade figures, carousel animals, ship ornamentations, signs, circus carvings, and specialty items.

This life-size polychromed Game Cock may be one such special example. The quality and style of the carving coupled with its age imply that it could have originated under these circumstances. For example, the feathers are stylized in a manner similar to those on nineteenth-century spread-winged eagles and cigar store Indians. Since the sport of game bird fighting was popular in several countries, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact origin; however, details could help in the identification of the maker. They also suggest that this may have been intended as a portrait of a favored fighter. The cock’s banded beak and legs protected it and others from harm; and the stately posture with uplifted tail, erect head, and proud chest portray the look of a proven champion.

Gene Kangas

Dog Effigy Teapot

ANONYMOUS (Native American, Late Quapaw Culture), DOG EFFIGY TEAPOT, 1650-1750; clay, polychromed, 8 x 8 1/2 x 10 in.; Phillips County, Arkansas; Kangas Collection

The Quapaw were the most recent of the three mentioned southeastern North American prehistoric Native cultures. When Columbus arrived in the New World, Quapaw populated present day Arkansas along the lower Arkansas River and its juncture with the Mississippi River. They created many basic pottery forms but their marvelously painted bottles and teapot effigies highlight their creative achievements. Although not all their wares were polychromed, the majority exhibit tri-colored striped geometric designs. Classic Quapaw swirls are broadly banded interlocking but unconnected red, white, and black color swaths. Other styling consists of vertical, horizontal, or sloped striping, circles, stars, and various unique patterns. Solid reds also exist. Durable red and white pigments were processed from minerals and remain visually strong today; the black coloration on most pots, however, has faded probably due to it plant derivation.

The teapot form evolved along with the consumption of tea in ancient China before the birth of Christ. Its use spread throughout the world. It was an early cooking utensil accompanying the first European explorers to North America. The novelty of this pourable vessel apparently made quite an impression on the Natives who soon combined the idea with other effigy containers. Animals were adapted to the teapot form in several fashions, but upside down dogs or otters were frequent choices with the head at one end and the spout doubling as the tail. Boldly painted in the typical swirl pattern, this Dog Effigy Teapot epitomizes the successful combination of these forms mastered by the Quapaw. It depicts a canine on its back with four applied feet, a "spout" tail, and ferocious bared teeth. Dogs were common but prized tribal possessions that were relied on for hunting, protection, food, and ceremonial purposes. The "animal-on-its-back" motif was an unusual Quapaw idea.

Linda Kangas

Human Effigy Vessel

ANONYMOUS (Native American, Early Mississippian Culture), HUMAN EFFIGY VESSEL, circa 1200 A.D.; shell-tempered clay, 7 1/2 x 8 in.; Craighead County, Arkansas; Kangas Collection

Three prehistoric Native American cultures referred to as Mississippian, Caddo, and Quapaw flourished along the banks of the Mississippi River and its tributaries hundreds of years before Europeans began to explore North America. These cultures developed large, concentrated villages which relied on agriculture, the rivers, and hunting for food. Many lived and died in one place and the departed were buried in family cemeteries with food, water, special projectile points, and beautiful ceramic vessels. Anthropologists confirm that village women were the potters; using the coil method, they molded containers for utilitarian and ceremonial purposes. A visual legacy of cultural sophistication is evident in the wonderful variety of pottery forms emanating from a one thousand-year period of 700 to 1700 A.D. Some post-contact pottery exhibit European influences.

Mississippian people existed in great numbers when De Soto first visited in 1541; but by 1673 when Marquette and Joliet arrived, their population was greatly diminished. Though pottery making started circa 800, its aesthetic peak existed between 1000 to 1600. Mississippian vessels often exhibit a gray to black somewhat textured surface tempered with crushed shells. They fashioned bowls, jars, and bottles and became accomplished in effigy construction of human figures, headpots, animals, birds, and mythological creatures. Painting was a later but less common embellishment. Mississippian potters are recognized for their human portrayals. Many do not denote gender; however, this Human Effigy Vessel represents a full-bodied female. Portrayed in a conventional kneeling position, she rests on applied legs with incised toes tucked under her buttocks. Added arms and hands meet under her protruding belly and slight breasts perhaps indicating pregnancy. Her pronounced spinal column juts from below the functional opening at the back of her stylized coifed head. Details on human effigies often document physical deformities, scarification, and body ornamentation offering insights about the culture in which they were created.

Linda Kangas

Goose Decoy

ANONYMOUS (Native American Cree Culture), GOOSE DECOY, 1880-1900; bundled twigs and string, 18 x 14 x 7 in.; Hudson Bay Region, Canada; Kangas Collection

Cree have hunted the rich shores and waters of the Hudson and James Bays for centuries. They developed a variety of successful food-gathering techniques. One of these was the practical bundled-stick decoy. Essentially, only pliable twigs and string were required to produce an effective lure that differed little from economical concepts employed by these Cree or other Native Americans for over two thousand years. The bundled stick decoy of northern Canada evolved through several design stages. The earliest known are loosely bound shapes which generally resemble waterfowl. These could be set out in fields, along shorelines, or on snow or ice. A second stage, represented by the exhibition example, includes the addition of a horizontal link between the decoy’s neck and bill. The distinctive space created by this connection could represent either an eye or the white cheek patch of a Canada goose. Significantly tighter crafted bundles characterize A third phase. These modern types eventually became popular trade and tourist items.

Gene Kangas

Prehistoric Fish Decoys

ANONYMOUS (Native American Inuit Norton Era), PREHISTORIC FISH DECOYS, circa 500 B.C.; carved ivory, each 3 in. long; Sishmaret, Alaska on the Chukehi Sea; Kangas Collection

This trio of ancient Native American fish decoys might well represent the beginnings of the original "decoy" concept. They were recently discovered during an archeological excavation near Sishmaret, Alaska. This prehistoric site has been identified to the Norton Era, dating these ivory lures to circa 500 B.C., or 2500 years ago. After centuries of burial, they are now petrified.

European trappers and settlers eventually adopted the time-tested practice of utilizing artificial fish lowered into freezing northern waters to attract live fish within spearing range. They introduced their own design sensibilities and skills. Ivory changed to wood, and anatomical details completed their adaptation. The more recent Euro-American decoys required maintenance or they deteriorated. By contrast, the old Native American lures sculpted from bone, animal tusks, or antler were simple, durable and effective. They were small enough and important enough tools to be carried by nomadic hunters; and except for hand drilled suspension holes and occasional hints of gills or eyes, elaborations were minimal. The original concept has never been improved.

Gene Kangas

Williams Merganser Decoy

ROGER WILLIAMS (circa 1770-1840, [nationality]), HEN MERGANSER DECOY, 1790-1810; carved, polychromed wood, 16 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.; Sheepshead Bay, Long Island, New York; Kangas Collection

Before the first European immigrants arrived in North America, Native Americans had developed a centuries-old tradition of utilizing waterfowl decoys to help them gather food. European settlers learned from the Native Americans and fashioned simple decoys because game was plentiful and easy to deceive. Therefore, lifelike decoys were not necessary nor were elaborate hunting tools required.

The earliest known decoys identified to specific carvers are attributed to the eighteenth-century Williams family of Sheepshead Bay, Long Island. They were made and used by Robert Williams sometime between 1790 and 1810. His brother Nathaniel is also credited as a carver. Of the half dozen or so rare lures assigned to Roger Williams, all are mergansers. Low-profiled bodies portrayed these racy fish-eaters with heads sculpted from roots or branches. These natural materials were selected because of the strength provided by changes in wood grain direction. After shaping, a lengthened section of the neck was pegged into a prepared hole in the body. Both form and function proved effective.

Generations later decoy aesthetics along with societal trends changed and this ultimately influenced the outward look of a wide variety of works produced by artists and craftsmen. Roger William’s decoys and those by more recent makers describe much about the circumstances under which they were created.

Gene Kangas

Thengs Merganser Decoys

HARALD THENGS (1893-1974, Norwegian-American)
a. RED-BREASTED HEN MERGANSER DECOY, 1930s; carved, polychromed wood, 17 3/4 x 8 in.
b. RED-BREASTED DRAKE MERGANSER DECOY, 1930s; carved, polychromed wood, 19 x 8 3/4 in. Babylon, New York;
Kangas Collection

Like adventurous Vikings before him, Harald Thengs voyaged the Atlantic to North America. He arrived in 1929 equipped with hopes, dreams, and skills; he settled in Babylon, Long Island, New York. He also brought with him a heritage steeped with an intriguing history of early Vikings, mythology, shipbuilding, sea voyages, exploration, and living from the sea. Today, Norse museums and monuments perpetuate ancestral history as a living testament. Norway, however, does not have a lengthy decoy tradition.

When Thengs was first exposed to Long Island waterfowling in the early 1930s, he noticed that locals used handcarved decoys with a proven look. This was a regional style that had evolved over more than a century. Basically frugal, Thengs started making his own decoys, which varied from accepted norms, with a look reminiscent of Nordic longboat design. His merganser decoys’ long necks, elongated bodies and full-length keels reflect that heritage. After a spartan thirty-two years in America, Thengs returned to Norway with all of his possessions, including his wooden ducks. They were repatriated in 1989. Harold Thengs’ decoys illustrate inspirational encounters between cultures.

Gene Kangas

Russell Salmon Carving

JOHN BUCKNELL RUSSELL (circa 1819-93, Scottish/English), 50 POUND SPEY SALMON TROPHY CARVING, 1892; carved, polychromed wood, 57 in. long; inscribed 50 lbs./Killed by Earl Winterton/in the Rock Pool/Oct. 11^th 1892/Length 4 ft. 1/2 in./Girth 2 ft. 4 in.; Fochabers, Scotland; Quay Collection

In the nineteenth century, celebrating and preserving rare catches with exact to-scale wood replicas of trophy-size sport fish became an alternative to classic taxidermy and plaster casts. A tradition of trophy fish carving probably began in Scotland by John Bucknell Russell around 1875-80. Three firms recognized for producing the largest number of quality sculpted fish portraits were Russell’s Fochabers Studio (1880-1930s, wood trophy period) which supplied Farlow and Company of London, the Hardy Brothers (1895-1930s) a tackle firm also of London, and P.D. Malloch Company (1875-1952) of Scotland. Over the next one hundred years, the practice spread throughout northern Europe to North America and other continents. In Europe, affluent "sports" fished and then commissioned wood facsimiles of their trophies. Carved fish soon became a fashion and also proved to be a lasting aesthetic option over mounted skins.

Born in Edinburgh, John Bucknell Russell became a self-taught artist who established an art studio near the mouth of the Spey, one of Scotland’s preeminent fishing rivers. Skilled at fresco and oil painting as well as wood carving, he created works for Roman Catholic churches, the nobility, and gentry of the British Isles. After becoming extremely well known for paintings of fish, game, and sporting animals, he began fashioning fish models.

Russell’s magnificent trophy of Edward, Fifth Earl of Winterton’s fantastic salmon exemplifies his bas-relief style; it is handsomely finished in shaded dark tones of gray and blue highlighted in pink with scales silhouetted in white. The dorsal, adipose, anal, and one ventral fin were scrupulously worked out from the body, while the pectoral and the second ventral fins were applied and then delicately detailed. Russell’s models reflect a late nineteenth-century trompe l’oeil style also practiced by his contemporaries who created popular, realistic "eye-fooling" game paintings and carvings.

Linda Kangas

Brayshaw Salmon Carving

THOMAS "TOMMY" BRAYSHAW (1886-1967, English-Canadian), 48 1/2 POUND CHINOOK (TYEE) SALMON CARVING, 1933; carved, polychromed yellow cedar, 44 in. long; Vernon, British Columbia, Canada; Kangas Collection

Tommy Brayshaw was born and raised in Giggleswick, Yorkshire, England not far from the home of the famous English Hardy Brothers tackle firm, which produced high quality wood trophy fish for their customers. He fell in love with sport fishing as a young boy, read books on the subject, and corresponded with leading authors of the day.

When Tommy arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1911, he immediately initiated exploring the countryside and began fishing local rivers. In 1912, he recorded his first landings of large salmon; one weighed forty-seven pounds and another forty-eight pounds. Tommy’s studies and direct experiences helped him develop into an expert angler and self-taught piscatorial artist. To sharpen his knowledge, he became a best friend with Roderick L. Haig-Brown, the internationally known Canadian writer on the art of angling. Reportedly, Brayshaw began carving life-like fish portraits in 1927. The detailing on each of his portraits, as in this Chinook Salmon Carving, is extensive. Individual scales, fin rays, and subtly layered colorations create startling realism that is consistent in quality on all of his trophies.

Tommy also kept a diary and sketchbook; many of his drawings of fish were published in books and journals. His diary notes indicate that the exhibition carving, illustrated here, represents the earliest of his commissioned fish sculptures. Interestingly, the forty-eight and one-half pound salmon was caught on the Campbell River by a mere ten-year-old named A. McE. Fisken. Emotions must certainly have run high that day; and later, little Fisken’s huge trophy became immortalized in wood. Brayshaw brought this English tradition of non-taxidermied trophies to Canada, and it ultimately led to his recognition as the premier carver of lifelike models of great trophy fish. His exceptional work ranks with the best of any individual in the world.

Gene Kangas

Zoratti Shrine

SILVIO ZORATTI (b. 1896, Italian-American), MULTI-PIECE LIMESTONE SHRINE, circa 1958-68; carved limestone

a. Nativity Creche, 18 3/4 x 19 in., signed front and back SILVIO P. ZORATTI 1963
b. Creche and Last Supper, 20 1/2 x 29 in. c. Angel, 13 1/4 x 15 1/8 in. from wingtip to wingtip
d. Altar, 37 x 13 x 46 in., signed S.P.Z. 1959
e. Angel with Chalice, 13 1/4 x 15 18 in. from wingtip to wingtip
f. St.Peter, 19 1/2 in. tall, signed MADE BY S.P. ZORATTI 1958 Conneaut, Ohio;
Kangas/Quay Collections

Silvio Peter Zoratti was born in the small northeast Italian town of Udine. As a youngster, he learned to farm, which became a passion throughout his life. He traveled to Austria in 1905 and began employment as a stone mason’s apprentice developing talents with mortar and stone that formed the cornerstone for later environmental creations. Silvio decided to emigrate to the land of golden opportunities. He arrived at Ellis Island in 1919 armed with hope, useful skills, deep religious convictions, and a strong work ethic. These are the very characteristics, which built America.

Zoratti moved to Ohio and worked for the Nickel Plate Railroad constructing and repairing bridges, buildings, and fences. At home in Conneaut, he and his wife Beatrice raised their family, growing most of their own food in a lush garden behind the house. It was not an ordinary garden, however. As Silvio’s ideas for sculptures in stone, concrete, and wood germinated and blossomed, the bountiful garden began a metamorphosis into a Garden of Eden reminiscent of those imagined by Henri Rousseau and Edward Hicks. Zoratti was prolific. In full bloom, his garden was magnificent. It seems only natural that some of the very first folk sculptures that Silvio created were stone carvings. A lifetime of masonry experiences provided him the expertise, tools, and materials to control such a difficult medium. His earliest known signed and dated sculptures are two stone Santo figures that comprise part of the Multi-piece Limestone Shrine. These are the two smaller figures of Mary and Mary with Child, which flank a taller Jesus. The shorter images are signed "S.P.Z. 1959." All three figures stand side by side in an altarpiece ingeniously fabricated from sheet marble, limestone, painted steel, cement, and brightly colored toy marbles. This sculpture’s location on a prominent rise in the very center of the garden indicates its importance to the maker. Whether pruning trees or planting beans, Silvio could always see the hill. This is where Zoratti’s art began.

Fewer than two dozen stone sculptures are known compared with a larger number of concrete animals and hundreds of woodcarvings. The stone pieces are the earliest, rarest, and most significant. For the purposes of this exhibition, the majority of figurative elements, which comprised the "mountain" shrine, were reassembled.

During the decade 1958-68, one by one, they were added to the evolving composition, which was surrounded by brightly colored and fragrant flowers. Each sculpture was stylized in a manner resulting in a timeless quality. Zoratti’s religious stone carvings are powerful expressions that illustrate how he felt, what he knew, and what he was able to do. The two Angels with extended wings are each a tour-de-force. St. Peter, as the keeper of the key to the doors of heaven, is an imposing monumental figure. Two reliefs, a Nativity Creche and combination Creche with Last Supper, profoundly proclaim two important Christian events. These sculptures are compelling on their own; as a group, they incredibly reinforce one another. The prominent location of the saintly grouping established a reverent atmosphere, which influenced the viewing of the multitude of plants and all other sculptures within Zoratti’s garden wonderland.

Gene Kangas

Live Pigeon Release Box

ANONYMOUS (Pennsylvania German-American), LIVE PIGEON RELEASE BOX, circa 1850; carved, polychromed wood box with applied decorations, 19 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 5 in.; Eastern Pennsylvania; Kangas Collection

It is speculated that the passenger pigeon was once the most prolific bird on earth, and certainly the most numerous species to ever grace the North American continent. Unfortunately, the sport of trap shooting, avidly practiced by countless nineteenth-century marksmen, was one of several reasons, which caused this gentle species to become extinct. This most popular sporting activity required the live capture and subsequent in-flight execution of possibly a million pigeons per year prior to their extinction around 1900. Late nineteenth-century legislation finally banned the use of live pigeons as targets, but too late to save the species. Equipment designed for their capture and confinement was discarded or stored, as shooters instead aimed their sights at glass balls or "clay" pigeons.

Century-old, powder-dry pigeon droppings attesting to its now outdated function remain on the roost inside this one-of-a-kind Live Pigeon Release Box. An anonymous Pennsylvanian-German maker fitted this wood "sporting" tool with rod hinges. That caused the sides to suddenly drop open when a brass pin was removed from the closure releasing a frightened bird, which quickly took to the sky. Holes in the base of the release indicate that pegs held it firmly on the ground during use. To pull the pin, a length of rope or cord would have provided a safe distance from the gun.

In various eras, the elaboration on tool design and craftsmanship levels reflects individual creativity. Applied, handcrafted, six-lobed ornamentations on this Pennsylvania box are reminiscent of ancient Christian markings. Similar Pennsylvania-German folk motifs are also present on quilts, barns, Bible boxes, painted furniture, and frakturs, as symbols of faith. In addition, other wooden designs were nailed onto this box with round-headed, hand-made studs; other studs furthered the decoration. The release box was then completed with brown, red, and green paint. This unique mid-nineteenth-century artifact directly reflects prevailing cultural and social attitudes of the period.

Linda Kangas

Potvin De Fricheurs

MOISE POTVIN (1876-1948, French-Canadian/American), DE FRICHEURS (CLEARERS OF THE LAND), 1930; carved, varnished gumwood, 41 x 26 x 9 1/2 in.; Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Quay Collection

Moise Potvin was born in West Farnham, Quebec into a large French-Canadian family of seventeen children. In 1891, the whole family emigrated to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, his long-term home. Throughout life, Moise worked as a weaver and learned the mechanics of fixing looms. He also painted signs and made at least 160 violins and repaired over 1000. By 1925, he accumulated a group of his carvings and decided on a plan to exhibit them. His traveling exhibition toured over one hundred American and Canadian cities. Eventually Potvin’s works became prominent attractions at HOBBYLAND in Old Orchard Beach, Maine and Revere Beach, Massachusetts. Potvin’s three-dimensional folk compositions depict scenes related to the genre of such academic American artists as George Bellows, Charles Burchfield, Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell, and Grant Wood. His wide-ranging dioramas include a self-portrait in the Violin Shop, life in a Newport mansion titled Home Sweet Home, Roosevelt’s Cabinet, Stampede of Texas Long Horns, and Pioneering Days.

Potvin’s Pioneering Days (DeFricheurs or Clearers of the Land) is a heroic reminder of the work ethic required for the survival of the first settlers. This sculpture portrays four muscular men working together to ready the land for planting. A team of massive oxen being driven to pull by whip and barking dog assists them. Every detail such as chains, trees, tools, and hanging clothes is carved. the textured earth is a recognizable stylistic Potvin trademark. Interestingly, sculpted ears of corn and shafts of wheat, which could also represent the essential theme of this exhibition, frame the French inscribed nameplate.

Potvin’s sensitive sculptures, some mechanically animated, were enjoyed by thousands of North Americans during the 1920s and 1930s. His collective works prove him to be an exceptional carver. "I like folks, just plain folks . . . I meet different nationalities, I like them all; if you study them, you will find them interesting, there is good in all of them."

Gene Kangas

Peffley Owls

JOEL PEFFLEY (1829-1917, German-American), MOTHER OWL WITH FIELD MOUSE FOR YOUNG OWL, 1856 signed "J.P."; carved, varnished wood and feathers, 12 1/2 in. tall; Ladoga, Indiana; Kangas Collection

Most folk artists become known for working primarily in one medium. Joel Peffley became proficient as a calligrapher and wood sculptor, and his German-American heritage is evident in both types of work. In 1853, Joel married Sarah Ann Stauter from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; they had four children prior to the Civil War. He was a member of the International Order of Odd Fellows and was elected to public offices of Township Clerk and Justice of the Peace. He also became active in the Agricultural Grange movement.

Joel is reported to have carved many fine canes. One in particular, carved in 1893, relates to his Grange interests by portraying grasshopper-like figures on their way to the Chicago World’s Fair. This was a time when farmers faced a great grasshopper plague. The elaborate cane is covered with scores of relief-carved and drawn images, including a feather quill, portraits of Confucius, John Hancock, George Washington, along with William Penn laying-out Philadelphia, fraternal order symbols, and a calligraphic owl.

Mother Owl with Field Mouse for Young Owl is a two part-folk depiction of life in nature. Made as a set, the larger owl looks downward while firmly grasping a mouse’s tail in its beak. The baby tilts its head and patiently waits. Beneath darkened varnish now covering their surfaces, calligraphic lines added feathers to the chests and wings. In contrast to Pennsylvania German carvers, like Wilhelm Schimmel who is known for raised tactile, carved surfaces, Joel Peffley created the illusion of texture with a pen.

Peffley’s drawings date as early as 1853, while the World’s Fair cane is dated 1893. Except for the owls, a void of work during this forty-year period suggests that other creations are yet to be discovered. Interests in history, religion, politics, current events, and observations of nature combined with a sense of humor and wonderment hint at what those works of art may be.

Gene Kangas

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This was an exhibition originally held at the Cleveland State University Art Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio from September 25 to October 23. 1992. The following is selected from the exhibition catalog, which may be purchased by going to the reference section

of this web site. Lenders to the exhibition were: Debora Bell, Ruth and Clifford Birdsall, Tom Collins, Roberta Holcomb, Gene and Linda Kangas, the family of Albert Krehlik, George and Kay Meyer, George Quay, Victoria Quay, Ned and Carol Swift, Ronald Swanson, Helen Tien, Cune Walsh, Allen and Anne Weiss, Dean Zimmerman, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, The Shelburne Museum, and the Western Reserve Historical Society. Catalog Introduction by Co-Curator John Hunter, Cleveland State University.