Spotlighting the Exhibit's Decoys and Bird Carvings

The nearly 400 decoys and bird carvings in ArtDuckO: Waterfowl Culture in North Carolina range from crude, working decoys to decorative works by award-winning North Carolina carvers. Visitors will discover a few unexpected surprises among the flock, such as a duck decoy given to Pres. John F. Kennedy by his wife, Jacqueline.

Hunters who harvested waterfowl for commercial markets began to carve wooden decoys in the 1800s. Some carvers produced several hundred of these valuable hunting tools. Gradually, regional styles of decoy carving developed. For example, the shape of a tail could distinguish a Core Sound decoy from an Ocracoke Island decoy.

Visitors to ArtDuckO will see styles of decoys and bird carvings dating to the 1870s. The various interpretations of swans, geese, ducks, shore birds and other waterfowl illustrate how decoys evolved from working decoys to decorative objects in the 1960s, when Americans began to collect them as folk art. The collecting craze inspired a new generation of decoy carvers, who carry on this art tradition.

Decoys and bird carvings by contemporary carvers include works by Walter “Brother” Gaskill of Harkers Island and Nick Sapone of Wanchese, whose birds have been featured in Southern Living and other magazines. Sapone received a first-place prize at the 1990 Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition.

From crudely shaped decoys of pintail hens and drakes to the lifelike, intricate details of sandpipers and sanderlings, ArtDuckO offers plenty to see and learn about carving traditions along the East Coast.

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