Whooping Crane Soap Carving
with Spencer Tinkham and Dr. Liz Smith
Penny Redmon Visiting Lecturer
September 27, 2023 | 1PM - 4PM
204 S Austin St Rockport, TX
FREE MEMBERS ONLY
$25 Supply Fee
Workshop Description
Explore Whooping Cranes, Art and Education. Don’t miss this opportunity to dive into the art of carving with visiting artist, Spencer Tinkham, while enjoying stories about some of our favorite winter Texans told by Whooping Crane expert, Liz Smith.
Supplies
About the Instructor
Spencer Tinkham developed a fondness for the natural world, investigating the water’s edge throughout his childhood. Before passing away from cancer, his grandfather instilled a lifelong passion for carving at age eight. Nothing enthralled Spencer more than large flocks of hungry waterfowl wintering behind his home. His first carvings were from small wood scraps. Next, Spencer carved life-sized duck decoys to lure waterfowl closer and to critique his work next to wild birds. As a teenager, he twice won the Youth World Duck Decoy Carving Championship. His sculptures are no longer utilitarian, but Spencer still uses many reclaimed materials. Entirely self-taught, his recent body of work was inspired by a feather he closely examined on a daily walk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Colors, shapes, and textures in natural objects, which are not easily discernible to the human eye, inspired his “macroscultpures.” Spencer’s work is collected and exhibited internationally. He is a David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Artist of the Year 2023 finalist and has pieces in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and Dollar Tree, Inc. collections.
Liz Smith is a Whooping Crane expert. Cranes are revered and held sacred in many regions of the world that they now share with people, and are some of the best animals to study their expressive behavior. Liz Smith, B.S., M.S., Ph.D, is a native Texan growing up and earning her formal education in the Coastal Bend as a research scientist and conservation planner. Understanding endangered Whooping Cranes needs and securing their habitat was essential in her work with the International Crane Foundation. She now seeks to meld art and ecology to further convey the importance of our beautiful coastal landscape.