Scrimshaw
My interest in scrimshaw started when I read Moby Dick as a kid. My wife's uncle had a world class collection of scrimshaw that included a piece that sat on Herman Melville’s desk while he wrote Moby Dick. Small world! Ann and I moved lived to Florida about six years ago. The closeness to the ocean, along with visits to the Florida Maritime Museum in historic Cortez got me hooked on exploring this traditional folk art medium. Traditional scrimshaw involved carving scenes of everyday whaling life into available materials. For early whalers those were whale teeth and bones. I’m not a whaler, but I do spend a lot of time on the beach collecting sea shells, so it made sense to use this readily available material for scrimshaw. Storm Cortez Florida Gulf Coast Fishing Village Fishing Boat The following images are inspired by John James Audubon. Great Blue Heron Fishing Egret Pink Flamingo Roseate Spoonbill Brown Pelican Another Gulf...
