Snowy Owl by Bob Guge of Illinois. (Photo by Tasha O’Neill.)
D&R Greenway Land Trust is set to open its new exhibition of fine-art decoys.
Champions, the Best of the Best, is scheduled to open Nov. 1 in the library, 1 Preservation Place, Princeton.
This exhibition features prize-winning work by woodcarvers. Their carvings are in the collections of the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury, Md., the Smithsonian Museum, The Roger Tory Peterson and the J. N. “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Fla.
Many of the carvers have been inducted into the Waterfowl Festival’s National Hall of Fame and won the Ward World Championships. Artists hail from Canada, Sanibel Island, Illinois and Massachusetts.
The exhibition’s champion carvers include Jimmy Vizier, Greg Pedersen, Jim Sprankle, Elmer Crowell, Bob Guge, Victor Paroyan and Lemuel Ward.
The carvers selected by D&R Greenway’s decoy curator Jay Vawter are renowned for realism and artistic expression. Most have never served as working decoys. Species range from teals and pintails through sharp-shinned hawks and kestrels to a snowy owl.
The exhibition includes Elmer Crowell’s 1920s sandpiper. Two of Crowell’s carvings have set world records for sales. His bufflehead drake sold for $207,000 at their Cape Cod benefit in July.
In conjunction with the exhibition, champion woodcarver Pat Godin of Canada is scheduled to speak on his art 6 p.m. Nov. 8. Godin has been named Best in the World 13 times. A public reception is set to precede the event at 5:30 p.m.
To register for the presentation email rsvp@drgreenway.org or call (609) 924-4646.
More information is online at drgreenway.org.
