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Larry Barth

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? There really isn’t an answer. But in the end it doesn’t matter, because the question’s real value lies in the thought process it triggers.

When it comes to bird carving, I find it useful to ask a slightly different question: “Which came first, the bird or the idea?” The value of the question remains the same—it makes me think a little harder about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. It makes me more deliberate in my decision making and helps me stay focused on what is important.

Sometimes it is the bird that provides me with the starting point, and I build a design around a particular species. Sometimes an idea comes first, and I later incorporate the bird whose attributes best support the concept. Every once in a great while the bird and the idea arrive simultaneously in a blinding flash, but this is rare in my experience. Even when a perfect combination seems to fall right into my lap, I still must wrestle with many compositional decisions in order to transform that bit of inspiration into an effective piece of sculpture.

Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine's Winter 2010 issue!