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Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Rich spent most of his summer days tromping through the woods always headed to one of his favorite fishing holes. After high school he joined the Navy to see the world. It was while stationed in Virginia that Rich attended the Mid-Atlantic Wildfowl Festival and was just awestruck with the wonderful carvings that he saw. As someone with a love of nature and fishing in particular, Rich began carving in 1985 often focusing on nature and the beauty that he saw while pursuing some of his favorite pastimes. Rich’s interests were piqued on how he could go about creating such beauty out of wood. Ducks were Rich’s first interest and garnered much of his attention during his early carving days. Entering his carvings in the many competitions always kept him striving to better his art, to increase the creativity and the wow factor, always looking for that special pose that would catch the judge’s eye.

Fishing had always been a significant part of Rich’s life and continues to be to this day. His latest works center on recreating the beauty that Rich sees in the fish and of the days remembered pursuing them. Waterfowl and Fish have been the focus of most of Rich’s carvings but there has been an occasional flower, shore bird, or a puffin or two.

Rich often starts with a picture and creates a pattern and subsequent woodcarving with various degrees of detail. Often each scale is carved or burned into the wood to capture those intricate details. When painting, each scale is hand painted with several applications of media. He develops color with multiple coats of various paints, pastels and powders, using both an airbrush and artist brushes. Starting with an airbrushed base layer followed by pastels and powdered paint, he creates an accurate and long lasting piece of art.

Richard (Dick) Snyder graduated from Eastern University in 1974 with a BA in History and Political Science. His love of hunting ducks and geese led to his desire to start carving decoys. At that time there were no carving instructors in his area, so he learned by reading books and watching videos and just carving. Although he started carving decoys, he now prefers to carve songbirds and raptors.

Dick currently belongs to the Lancaster County Woodcarvers, William Rush Woodcarvers and Delaware Valley Woodcarvers. He competes at these shows and has won several Best of Show ribbons and scores of blue ribbons. He also competes at the Ward World Carving Championship Show. In 2013 he won Third Best of Show in the Intermediate Class. He moved to the advanced class and continues to win ribbons. Dick is a respected judge at local woodcarving shows as well as at the Ward World Carving Championship Show.

He has been teaching private classes for several years and has been asked numerous times by clubs and organizations to demonstrate carving techniques, habitat making and airbrushing. He also teaches weekly lessons to a recently organized carving club at Shannondell Retirement Village. He enjoys sharing his love of carving and is very proud when he sees the smiles on the faces of his students as they learn to carve.

Hometown: Berlin, MD

Bennett Scott is an Eastern Shore of Maryland native, where the outdoors, birds and art are themes that have dominated his life.  Spending time in the marshes of Worcester County gained him tremendous knowledge of waterfowl and their habits.  He has been carving professionally since 1970 and in each of his wood sculptures, he strives to capture the essence of his subject.  His carvings have won numerous awards and recognition.  He is a member of the Easton Waterfowl Festival’s Hall of Fame, served on the Ward Foundation Board of Trustees and has held various committee chairmanships of the Ward World Championship Competition.

Bennett received the Ward Foundation “Living Legend” Award in 2017 honoring his impact on the field of wildfowl art and the Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition.

Bennett is generous in spirit and commitment to teaching others and passing on his knowledge, skills and talent.  He was an instructor` in the National Endowment for the Arts “Carving Out Future Decoy Makers” program.  Bennett resides in Berlin, Maryland.

Hometown: Moravian Falls, NC

Audie Bloise was born in Puerto Rico. He has been a bird watcher and art lover all his life, with a particular interest in art that depicts birds. In 1982 he became aware of bird carving as an art form, and vowed that he was going to learn to carve. Skills practiced in his profession as a veterinarian and his hobby of taxidermy gave him invaluable knowledge of anatomical details, and the ability to perform meticulous and careful work.

Audie taught himself the art of carving by studying videos, books and other publications, and completed his first piece in 2006. He began entering competitions in 2009 as a way of meeting and learning from other carvers.

The Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition is the most prestigious bird carving competition in the world. Held every April in Ocean City, Maryland, it welcomes carvers from all over the world. After competing and winning at all levels Audie officially became a master carver in 2013.

Bird carving is Audie’s passion. His goal is to create a sculpture that is both a realistic depiction of the bird and a balanced artistic composition, as well as telling a story about the bird’s life.