Oxtongue Craft Cabin & Gallery hosting Greg Gillespie

Artist Inspiration

With all due respect to those folks who embrace the season of snow, for me there is nothing that renews the spirit more than the return of our summer birds after a long cold winter. Many bird lovers are particularly excited to see the season’s first hummingbirds. These tiny birds travel more than 3200 kilometers from their winter range in Central America to reach their breeding grounds in Ontario, and can fly non-stop for up to 800 kilometers at a time. While they do not have to worry about COVID, their life journey is fraught with many other dangers, from avian diseases to accidents, predators, and bad weather. As they have done for many thousands of years, all wildlife must strive to overcome the hardships that must be endured for the good of their species and the continued renewal of their kind.

This adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is perched upon a Blue-bead Lily (Clintonia borealis). The bird’s body and wings are carved from tupelo. The eyes are glass and the feet are fabricated from brass wire, silver solder and epoxy. With the exception of the blue beads, which are wood, all other parts of the plant are metal. Both the bird and the plant are painted with acrylics.

Artist Bio

Greg is a world class fine art wood artist that has been producing wildfowl wood sculpture for the past 40 years. During this time he has won numerous awards at major carving shows including the Ward World Championship in the United Sates and the Canadian National Championship in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Greg creates realistically carved and painted songbirds, decorative paddles and interpretive sculpture. In 2016 he became a Master Carver by placing third in the World Interpretive Wildfowl Wood Sculpture division at the Ward Championship with his carving 'Startled'. In 2015 he won Second in Show for the People's Choice Award at this same event with his first World level interpretive entry ‘Out for a Paddle’.

Greg has lived in Muskoka and North Bay and now he and his wife make their home in the village of Haliburton in order to be close to their cottage on Kennisis Lake. Greg has a degree in Forestry from the University of Toronto and is retired from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources after a 30 year career.
His love of camping and other recreational pursuits in the natural environment is the inspiration for his art.
To see more of Greg's work visit facebook.com/NorthwindPaddle