Atwood’s Artful Assembled Artifacts #1 : That’s Just Ducky!

Handmade Decoys were historically used to attract ducks into a hunter’s firing range. They have been around forever. Some older decoys were covered with bird skin and feathers. The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. has decoys that date to 400 BC-AD 100 that were found in Nevada. They are made of reeds with feathers attached.

In time, hunters began making decoys out of wood, and painted them to look like the real thing. Now before you snicker at the thought of how stupid a duck must be to fall for a floating fake one, remember that time you turned a corner quick in a store and you were fooled by a well made and dressed manikin?

Now the Assembled Artifacts:

My Dad always enjoyed American Folk Art. He obtained an antique duck decoy and it was sitting in our living-room. This became the model for one of my high school art projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad in the next decade taught himself to carve wood and this was one of his first projects:

 

 

 

 

He was also a great photographer and shared that passion with me.

Like migrating birds, let us bring this A.A.A.A. to full circle: Here is the real thing, not the fake one, photographed by me!

Atwood

May you always calmly bob on top.