Website Launched to Display Waterfowl Sculptor, Grainger McKoy's, Work Waterfowl Sculptor Website Launches; Commissioned Works Available for Public Viewing (Historic Stateburg, SC) - Not many people know that the fast-growing field of decorative decoy carving was seeded in the early 1970's in Beaufort, South Carolina by waterfowler and sculptor Grainger McKoy. McKoy's works have been described as engineering marvels, and are now available for public viewing at www.GraingerMcKoy.com. There, web browsers can enjoy his most significant sculptures, nearly all of which are housed in private collections. Many of these pieces cost over $100,000 and before now, were behind private collectors' doors and for their eyes only. McKoy's sculptures include the 7-foot tall Pintails, depicting five full-sized birds struggling against gravity and each other to rise from the water; a not-quite-dead woody breaking free in Wood Duck in a Croker Sack; and Teal in Wood, where a partially unfinished teal launches from the water's surface. Birds and wood have always pulsed in McKoy's blood. Even as a youngster, he preferred to hunt over his own hand-carved decoys. McKoy recalls his enchantment, and his first bird: "As a young child, I marveled at my father notching cypress logs as the cabin in which I grew up in the early 1950's took shape. Growing up with those interior logs, combined with the mystery of an old decoy my grandmother had given me from her attic, pressed something deep in me. I remember well my mother holding me up by my belt and her encouraging words as she allowed me to saw an extended exterior log from that cabin for my first bird," says McKoy. Thirty years later, Grainger McKoy has melded his mastery of wood with new materials, materials that typically do not lend themselves to the intricacy of bird sculpture. His latest challenges revolve around sterling, bronze, and gold, which he uses to create smaller limited edition sculptures, as well as a line of jewelry he originally created as gifts for his wife. "This is not an abandonment of wood," says McKoy, "Rather, I use metal to bring these birds out from behind their glass cases while retaining the detail and lightness wood has allowed me over the years." When asked why, McKoy replies, "To make these materials fly as they have never flown before." Source by GraingerMcKoy.com Photo Credit GraingerMcKoy.com

Posted: 2002-07-10 0:00