MARINE ART
Respect for the Ivory by Nancy Mendelson Robert Weiss and I have known each Bering Strait. They are the only people other for about seventeen years, having allowed to dig for fossil walrus ivory, met when he was a graphic designer and which they do every year around August I wrote for a national magazine. About and September when the permafrost softnine years ago, a mutualfriend moved to ens up. Once they sell it, you can resell it Nantucket and sent us each a gift. I with no restrictions. received ten pounds of sea scallops and When I receive a piece of ivory, I Bob received a scrimshaw kit. While my might have an idea for it right away. But gift altered my waist line, Bob's altered I' ve had pieces sitting on the shelf for as his life: what began as a hobby is now a long as five years before I say "Yes, full-time occupation. that's what goes on this piece." I get Today Robert Weiss is recognized as pieces of tusk that are different sizes and one of the country's top scrimshaw art- shapes, and what would work on one ists, and his work is shown by the Mystic piece won ' t work on another. It also Maritime Gallery in Mystic, Connecti- . depends on how the piece is mounted: cut; the Big Horn Galleries located in some are mounted vertically , others Fairfield, Connecticut, and Carmel, Cali- horizontally. fornia; and several other galleries on the For example, I did a piece with a sea East and West Coasts. monster-the one and only time I've In both 1994 and 1995 Bob received ever done anything like that. But it was the Rudolph}. Schaefer Maritime Heri- such a weird looking piece of ivory, sort tage A ward at the Mystic International. of dark and corrugated, kind of torn up, It is the first time in the twelve years since interesting looking and ominous. In a its inception that this prestigious award way , it just spoke to me and said "sea has been won two years consecutively by monster. " Some pieces just speak to you the same artist or gone toa scrims hander. like that. You ' II think, " Oh, that piece The following is from an interview I almost looks like a sperm whale," and a had with Bob about his work as a pod of sperm whales will go on it. A lot of the pieces I've been doing scrimshander and how iJ has broadened his life. I began by asking him about the lately are on slabs of mammoth ivory with gift from Nantucket. formal mounts. Those almost invariably end up being portraits of ships or historical I was fascinated by the gift. Here was a figures , because the format lends itself to tiny sperm whale tooth. It was raw and I that so well. On the back, I engrave all the had to polish it first. That got me in- pertinent information about the subject. volved with the medium- with the When I decide on a subject, it usually ivory- right away. Then I just started starts with a feeling. Once that light bulb scratching on it and fell in love with goes on inside and I' m sure that ' s what I scrimshaw. I worked on polymer for want to do, I involve myself totally in the almost a year, just to get used to the tools research of the subject. Whether it is a and to train my hand. I was experiment- clipper ship or a humpback whale, I' ll ing with different tools and even making research the subject thoroughly until I'm as familiar with it as possible, to bring my own tools for a while. It took about a year to feel comfort- every bit of realism to it that I can. able to the point where I wanted to start What also helped me tremendously working on ivory. I picked the name of a was studying portraiture and figure paintsupplier out of a book and I got lucky, in ing at the Reilly League of Artists. I saw that Ken Fredericks is a master crafts- a dramatic change in the quality of my man. He not only selects the ivory, he work. It became firmly grounded in the polishes it and then makes fine hard- classical principles of picture making, wood mounts. I started with small pieces and that freed me up to really express from him and just began scratching away. myself. For instance, I went through that It was about another year before I started picture-making process with the sea monster piece: Here's a group of guys in a exhibiting my work. Thanks to the support of my wife, I 5th-century carrack out in the ocean Gail, I was able to "quit my day job" and during a storm , when this huge sea monturn to scrimshaw full-time. Gail has an ster rises up out of the water. The sailors incredible eye and has always been my are terrified! I wanted it to be a terrifying piece, reminiscent of those scary things toughest critic-and my biggest fan. Ninety-nine percent of the ivory used that used to hide in the closet when you is mined and dug up by the Yupik people were a kid. of St. Lawrence Island just south of the I ' ve learned a lot about history, and
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Above, "Leviathan. " Fossil walrus ivory on a mount of goncalo al ves, ebony and abalone. At right , the artist Robe rt Weiss.
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SEA HISTORY 77 , SPRING 1996