Huck's Ducks Launch

Description

Join us at the Wendell Gilley Museum to meet Richard Huck, the artist behind Huck’s Ducks, which are hanging out in the Gilley’s decoy pool. This reception is Friday, Sept. 8 from 5 to 7p.m. Free but registration requested at www.wendellgilleymuseum.org/events. These quixotic pieces – made from old duck decoys and a variety of other prosaic items, were inspired by the gift of a decoy duck, which appealed to the artist’s ironic sentimentality. Just what, he wondered, was the job of a decoy? It is, of course, to lure ducks to the hunter. “I felt a strong need for the waterfowl population to have protectors; a battle fleet to stop predators both animal and human,” Huck says. “The transformation of a hapless decoy into a lethal battleship is where the fun starts.” Each piece begins with a plastic decoy. Then Huck adheres Plexiglass, prescription bottles, paint brushes, plastic bottle tops of all sizes, along with model parts and just about anything else he can find to make them more authentic. Reference photos of naval vessels provide a starting point. The waterfowl-inspired war boats are not motorized, but as a scuba diver the artist has towed his creations during shallow dives. “Other divers are always curious as to what I am doing, but my friends and the ducks know!” he says. Huck works primarily in two-dimensional art, but his curiosity and artistic drive sometimes leads him to other endeavors like his duck decoy battalion. He graduated from Millersville University in Pennsylvania with a BS degree in Art Education and taught high school art for many years at Ephrata High School in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. Now retired, he is a full-time artist creating in many media. He has exhibited both nationally as well as internationally over the years with solo exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, Philadelphia, Paris and Amsterdam. Group exhibitions include those cities along with Australia, Washington, DC, and Japan. Over the years he has won numerous awards regionally and nationally including the Best in Show with the Colored Pencil Society of America. His works have been published in books and magazines including the Society of Illustrators, Art in America, Outstanding American Illustrators (published in Japan) and the Best of Colored Pencil book series. Beyond working in colored pencil he, also, enjoys working in graphite and mixed media along with photography, painting and various forms of sculpture including his battleship decoys.