PUTNEY-Ars longa, vita brevis. One translation of the Latin phrase is that craft takes a long time to learn, yet life is brief. In other words, mastery requires many hours; one lifetime is not long enough.
Some people come close, though, and Adam Wetzel, who died in June at age 86, was one of them. His carved birds show he was a master carver.
Two of his bird carvings have been accepted into the permanent collection of Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington.
Debbi Wetzel, his wife of 56 years, arranged the donation to the museum.
"Adam made a lot of bird carvings," she said, "but the museum wanted only those birds native to Vermont. They took a canvasback duck that Adam carved in January 1986 and a hooded merganser that he did in March 1987."
The two carvings are part of the museum's display of Vermont wetland birds in a diorama-style exhibit.
"The museum was happy to have them donated," Debbi said. "Adam would never have done this. He didn't join carving groups. He was always so quiet about his work. This way, though, they're some place where other people can see them and enjoy them."
Debbi and Adam moved to Vermont in 1974 and started their own business, Woodzels by Wetzels, which combined her talents as a painter with his skills as a woodworker. Their booth was always very popular at craft shows, and "together we made a living," she said.
Adam first discovered woodworking at Kittinger Furniture in Buffalo, New York, Debbi said, where he learned to make fine furniture.
"He started making projects on the lathe," she said. "He learned how to finish, how to sand and stain. His first carvings were Santas. We sold those through our business. Next he carved a chicken and a rooster. Then he said, 'I want to do a duck decoy.'
"You buy a paper plan," she explained. "It's like making a dress with a pattern. You stick to the plan. Usually he used bass wood. He taught himself everything."
Debbi and Adam often vacationed at Popham Beach in Maine, and Adam would pick up pieces of driftwood as perches for his carvings.
"You can send away for glass eyeballs and realistic bird feet for mounting the carving," she said. "Adam's woodburning technique for the feathers was really skillful - it's what makes the finished carving so vivid and beautiful."
'They show what the bird is. And they are also beautiful.'
The Birds of Vermont Museum is affiliated with Audubon Vermont, a state program of the National Audubon Society. According to its website, the museum was co-founded in 1987 by Bob Spear, bird carver, naturalist, and author of Birds of Vermont, and Gale Lawrence, naturalist, author, and teacher. They were life partners.
Its mission is "to provide education, to nurture an appreciation of the environment, and to study birds and their habitats using woodcarvings and other museum resources."
On the ground floor, the website continues, are two dioramas - one spring and one fall - of shore and wetland birds, a room of endangered and extinct species of North America, two single-species displays of significant birds, cabinets of early carvings, and a window looking out on a feeding area that attracts wild birds. Upstairs are the raptors and birds that nest in Vermont's forests and fields.
Erin K. Talmage, executive director of the Birds of Vermont Museum, explained the museum's approach.
"Most of the birds in our museum were carved by Bob Spear," she said. "He wanted to educate people by showing birds in their environment without using taxidermy. The carvings are very realistic and the correct size. They show what the bird is. And they are also beautiful."
Talmage said they were very excited to receive the donation of Adam's bird carvings.
"We've known Adam and Debbi for a long time," she said. "As local artists, they've had craft items in our gift shop. Adam's very life-like ducks will be displayed in the spring wetlands diorama."
Talmage noted that Birds of Vermont Museum is one of many exceptional small museums in Vermont.
"We're the place where natural history meets art," she said. "We're open from May 1 to Oct. 31, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The rest of the year we are open only by appointment and for special events. Our walking trails on the 100-acre property, however, are open all year. People can find more information about us on our website: birdsofvermont.org, on Instagram, and on Facebook."
This News item was submitted to The Commons.