Folk Art Americana wood signed 1968 decoy carver Sheerman

Description

Description: Master Carver Wendell B. Sheerman's 1968 issue "The Little Old Decoy Maker".  This is believed to be from the lot of 20 first produced in 1968. Signed and dated. Measures 12"x9"x7" tall.  As found condition with no repairs.
From the Des Moines Register August 11, 1974: A Decoy Maker's Works of Art By Gene Raffensperger (Register Staff Writer)Wendell B. Sheerman says that when he was a kid he liked wood carving better than eating, and the result was he got plenty of spankings for being late for supper. He was a veteran employee of the Santa Fe Railroad in Fort Madison, he maintains that given the choice, he'd still rather carve pine than a beef roast. His wife, of course, is patient about all that and even if it takes two calls, the food still is warm by the time Sheerman gets to the table. His mother...refers to her son's carvings as "his playthings." Playthings they may look like, but to collectors of such things as duck decoys and wood carvings. Sheerman's works are items to be placed on a shelf or a fireplace mantel. Sheerman started carving things when he was a boy of 9. A neighbor in the Missouri town of his-birth was a craftsman whose specialty was chairs. Sheerman's first effort was a decoy that he made from a railroad tie. Since then he's carved maybe 500 of the decoys (none from railroad ties), and has only four left, plus the original one. The others he's traded off to collectors and other carvers in return for their work. His real specialty now is a miniature called "The-Little Old Decoy Maker." This is a scene of a wood-carver sitting at his bench making a decoy with a dog, some wood shavings and others items in the set. The man in the set is about 5 inches high and the other items are to scale.The work on this project has earned Sheerman the title "the little old decoy maker." In 1973 this miniature won him the title "Best of Show Handicraft" at the U.S. National Decoy Show in New York. Sheerman says he's made 20 of the tiny scenes.