Joyce McComisky. Painter. Sculptor. Wood carver. Charlesville, Nova Scotia. Active late 20th century-.

A primitive and naive artist, Joyce McComisky began carving in the third part of the last century. She carved birds and animals in relief carvings and eventually began painting, participating for some time in the Lunenburg festival of folk art. She now paints only. Shown is a signed and dated relief carving in White Pine wood of young Raccoons at play. (Dated 1992 on the reverse).

An image of the work with a detail of her mark:

Joyce McComisky. Charlesville, Nova Scotia. Relief carving of young Raccoons.

Detail of her mark:

Joyce McComisky. Detail of Young Raccoons.

Josiah Zinck. Sculptor. Decoy carver. Blandford, Nova Scotia. Active mid-20th Century.

One of a family of wood carvers. A very fine primitive sculptor, Josiah Zinck was a maker of decoys and ornamental birds; mainly waterfowl. He carved in Spruce wood and often signed with a red inked stamp. He colored with ‘as found’ colors. Shown is an ornamental decoy by him from the 1960’s. It is about 9 inches long.

Below is a signed example of his work (1960’s):

Josiah Zinck. Wood carver. Decoy maker. Ornamental Decoy. Blandford, Nova Scotia.

His mark:

Josiah Zinck. Wood carver. Decoy maker. Blandford, Nova Scotia. Detail of his mark.

Clarence Saulnier. Sculptor. Wood carver. LaButte, Nova Scotia.  Active late 20th century until his death in 2006.

Clarence Saulnier took his subjects from the community and country-side around him; carving situations and scenes of village life on Nova Scotia’s French Shore. He made carvings of people and animals as well as horse drawn wagons. He was a primitive artist, carving and painting  most of his work using ‘as found’ materials and colors.

Shown is a Logging wagon and Ox team and his mark:

Clarence Saulnier. LaButte Nova Scotia.

Clarenc Saulnier. LaButte Nova Scotia. His Mark.

Ref: From the Heart Gallery.

Fred Nickerson. Sculptor. Wood carver. Villagedale, Nova Scotia. Active mid 20th century.

Fred Nickerson was a decoy carver. He also made ornamental painted carvings of birds.

Ref: Guyette, Decoys of Maritime Canada.(1983)

Charlie Tanner. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Stonehurst, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. Active 3rd quarter 20th century.

A fisherman for most of his life, he became a folk artist in the 1970’s. He quickly became known for his wonderful carvings of people in all of life’s situations. He was first shown in the Houston North Gallery in Lunenburg and collected by Chris Huntington (1974). His carvings are very distinctive and well painted. His work is in many museum and private collections.

A sample of his work:

Charlie Tanner. A Family.

His mark:

Charlie Tanner. His mark.

A link to Charlie Tanner in his workshop (from the classicfolkartblogspot web site):

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-POGip45LKiI/UtcHlZ4vSpI/AAAAAAAAAyg/Q1O0TqZUsHA/s1600/Charlie+Tanner+workshop+boat+1979.jpg

Ref:Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999)

Ref:A.G.N.S., Charlie Tanner Retrospective (1984);

Ref:A.G.N.S., Nova Scotia Folk Art – Canada’s Cultural Heritage (1989);

Ref: The Black Sheep Gallery

Ref: Scott Higgins at Classicfolkart.blogspot.ca/.  A fascinating blog and a good read.