Preserving a dying art

By Amy Dove - Goldstream News Gazette

Published: August 05, 2008 1:00 PM
With gentle pressure Terry Woodworth presses a flat metal tool near the glass eye of an elk.

As he moves it along, a delicate eyelid takes shape below the individual lashes he put in that morning.

“Taxidermy in the art world — the only thing ahead of it is painting and sculpting,” he says.

For many it may be an odd comparison, but for Woodworth, who has spent that last two decades turning hunter’s trophies and roadkill into artwork, it’s an apt description. He started learning the tools of the trade in 1971 from a $6 correspondence course. As the only formal training he has, he learned through trial and many errors as he went. His early work was a little rough, he admits, and not something he is keen to see again.

“The first time I did it, I knew I would have my own business,” he says.

In 1989 he opened Lagoon Taxidermy in Colwood, filling an unusual business niche on the south Island.

There is no shortage of work. Woodworth had to turn away 15 bears this month because he, together with one employee, just doesn’t have the hours to turn the pelts into life-like recreations.

“There is a large demand for taxidermy and not enough taxidermists,” he says. “I turn down so much work.”

It’s a sentiment being echoed by taxidermists across B.C. says Wilma Brawner, secretary-treasure of the B.C. Taxidermy Artistry Association.

Brawner says it is hard to pinpoint how many taxidermists there are since so many do it from home. Two years ago the association had 75 members, the bulk of which are on the Mainland.

Changes in regulations led to more paperwork to do certain animals and some people have the wrong idea about what taxidermists do, she says. Several members have left the business as a result.

“I can see it falling away. It’s just really sad to see it go,” she says.

Unable to offer any real reason for the lack of people locally in his trade, Woodworth is quick to point out there are a lot of “wannabe taxidermists.” They are interested in the work, but discouraged by the attention to detail needed for a realistic looking animal. Those are the ones that don’t want to do the “salt room penance,” he says.

Woodworth works primarily on elk, moose, deer, sheep, caribou and bears. Some hunters travel specifically for big game and as a result he finds himself working on African elands, wild boars and recently a crocodile. His workshop walls are a catalogue of mounted animals, the floor space riddled with bear rugs in various stages of completion. Towering about it all, antler racks hang from the beams.

Regardless of the species, they arrive the same way. Animals such as elks and deer are skinned from the shoulders up, leaving their skulls, brains and tissues in place. The same goes for bears, which come with flesh attached and skull in place.

The animals are measured and documented, bullet holes and cuts recorded. Those measurements often differ from the hunter’s idea of how large their kill was, Woodsworth notes with a laugh. It’s his job to tidy them up and repair the damage many hunters do. It can take hours to sew up a bear hide that has been nicked and sliced by an amateur.

Due to a backlog in work, the animals are placed in one of five freezers until Woodworth can get to them. Once removed, they thaw on the salting table to sap moisture and minimize bacteria growth. The combination of salt, flesh and no windows makes for a surprisingly nondescript smell.

From there they are sent to a tannery on the Mainland — it can take up to six months to get them back.

Putting everything back together goes much faster. For wall mounts, the hides are stretched over polyurethane forms and sewn along the neck line. The notion of having an animal stuffed is ridiculous, he says.

“You stuff a teddy bear.”

Real antlers or replicas are used, along with manufactured eyes, tongues and eyelashes. The bits and pieces are ordered to match the purchaser’s desires. There are no local suppliers, leaving Woodworth pouring over catalogues from Alberta and the United States.

With hunting season in full swing, there’s no sign the business will slow down this year or in the ones to come.

“Some people are just into it in a really big way,” he says, adding some clients have multiple animals in his shop currently.

With numerous projects on the books and no local suppliers for materials and tanning, it takes roughly a year to complete each piece. Costs differ between animals and the condition Woodworth gets them in. A bear can go for $1,000 while a caribou mount will cost $1,100.

“The money was never the motivator. The art was always the motivator,” he says.

Aside from hunters, Woodworth does work for local nature houses and the Royal British Columbia Museum. Wild ARC in Metchosin also has examples of his work lining their entrance way. He has gotten requests to work on pets, although he always declines.

While a hunter and pet owner himself, his work is removed somewhat from the animals. “To me it’s just an art form,” he says.

“Taking something and turning it out I just felt more of a satisfaction,” Woodworth says. “That kind of thing really makes you feel good — that you make someone happy.”

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_south/goldstreamgazette/community/26284174.html