Jeffrey H. Peacock

Jeffrey gets his artistic talent from his father who attended the Butera School of Art in Boston and ultimately retired from his printing company to pursue a career as a wood carver and sign maker.  Jeff works in the printing industry, like his father and grandfather before him.  And like his father, Jeff also began carving wooden birds and decoys.  In his thirties he sharpened his wood carving skills enough to have his work in Maine galleries, such as the Ducktrap Trading Co. in Camden.  About this time, his passion for fishing inspired him to try carving fish, and through experimentation and hard work he was soon creating award winning fish sculptures.

Jeff’s latest artistic creations tie his love of fishing and the ancient Japanese art of Gyotaku together.  The traditional for of Gyotaku  “Gyo” meaning fish and “Taku” meaning impression, involves covering the fish in “Tsumi” ink and placing white rice paper over the fish.  Rubbing the paper onto the fish captures all of the fine details right down to the scales.  In an advanced form of the art, a white ink impression on black rice paper, is then hand painted and air brushed capturing the fish’s intrinsic beauty.  His works of art often include actual rubbing of tiny, bait fish, but can also be quite large, such as the 40” Northern Pike caught by his neighbor.  He traditionally works with the Maine fresh and salt-water fish, but is always looking for new subjects.