The Steven Fland Gallery

    I am a self-taught sculptor specializing in life size birds in which the wildlife species and habitat all start from a block of wood or piece of metal. 

    I reside in Moravia, a small community in the Eastern Finger Lakes region of Central New York State.  Upon receiving a BS degree in Biology, from SUNY Potsdam, I taught middle school Life Science for 36 years.  While doing ornithological graduate work at Cornell University, I had the unique opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant for the late Dr. Peter Paul Kellogg, who was instrumental in the development of the Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University.

      Always interested in art, another teacher and myself opened a wildlife art shop in Skaneateles, New York during the summer of 1976.  It was there I was introduced to this particular form of bird sculpture.  Having a desire to try my hand in the art form, I completed my first carving in 1978 and entered my first competition in 1979, in novice class.  In less than one year, I moved up and began competing in open/professional class and in 1982, I won my first of five "Best-of-Show" awards at the U.S. National Decoy Show.  At the first New York State Wildlife Art Competition, I received first, second, and third place awards.  (The following year the rules were changed allowing only one entry per artist in the competition.)

    My early pieces were  highly detailed floating sculptures ("decorative decoys") because in competition they are judged on the water.  Aside from having to be accurate to the species, in anatomy, color and posture, they must float correctly in a natural, lifelike attitude.  I still carve floating sculptures, but I  have expanded my art to include a category referred to as "interpretive", which does not float, but focuses on a more stylized, loose, impressionistic approach.  Another genre of mine is a highly detailed non-floating piece ("full size decorative"), in which the bird is set in a habitat.

    Specialty commissions have included the creation of four vertical sculptures carved out of basswood logs.  These sculptures were originally designed for an Adirondack split wood cabinet.  The poles were meant to honor the Haudenosaunne (Iroquois) culture and feature renditions of their clans, false faces and beliefs.  When the cabinet was moved to a different location, the poles were removed; their paint was intensified and they are now installed in an entryway to the Savannah Dhu Conference Center.

    All of my work reflects a desire to capture "the character of the bird" and its habitat and behavior.  One of my sculptures is a juvenile Cooper's Hawk with a Mourning Dove clutched in its talons, expressing the feel of an efficient predator.  Whether it is a regal Canvasback, an elegant Wood Duck, a well fed Alligator, a Snapping Turtle going after a duckling, a juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk begging for food, or a pre-copulatory pair of Cinnamon Teal, all of these pieces evoke an important action in the life of the animal.  A recent carving of an Eastern Bluebird on a  Pussy Willow branch, establishes the time of the year.

    Composition is of major importance because I want to force the viewer's  eye to flow through the sculpture and still be of interest when seen from all directions.  When viewing my work, look at the bird with regard to its behavior and the overall design, while at the same time remembering it is sculpted from wood.