American Harrier Hawk & Gloved Handler– Carved Wooden Re-Creation Signed Bradford King

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Imagine the Northern Harrier, a highly versatile raptor, thriving in a variety of settings, primarily in low-vegetation areas while utilizing … Read more Imagine the Northern Harrier, a highly versatile raptor, thriving in a variety of settings, primarily in low-vegetation areas while utilizing riparian zones and wetland margins as secondary cover and hunting grounds. Bradford King’s professional dedication to wildfowl art, as seen in this museum-quality display, deepens an innate impression formed during his early exploration of Eastern coastal environments near Ocean Beach and Fire Island, fostering a lifelong obsession with avian biology and predatory raptors. Following earlier ornithologists, and while valuing the historical illustrations of John James Audubon, King quickly shifted toward flat, traditional two-dimensional guides, then began to emulate natural history as fully realized three-dimensional sculptures. He balanced a 24-year teaching career at the Randolph School in Wappingers Falls, New York, with a meticulous, slow-yield studio practice. The gap between woodwork and raw nature was bridged by the taxidermy feathers, leather jesses, and authentic falconry elements King incorporated into his pieces, resulting in this custom sculpture. The "Catch a What?" title highlights the bird’s specialized functions in a wildlife setting. His carvings are strictly one-of-a-kind, come from many original commission pieces, and are in a highly limited catalog, rarely surfacing on open platforms. By elevating this crafted wood falconry hawk sculpture to three dimensions and handcrafting it at half-scale, King transforms a standard piece of folk art into a true, detailed masterpiece rooted in natural history. His expertise, instantly visible from any vantage point, King captures the Northern Harrier's distinctive owl-like facial roundness and tilt of its head, masterfully mimicking the exact alert posture of a live raptor scanning for food. From top to bottom, the perfect curvature at the shoulders and a detailed cascading mantle of feathers come to life as primary, secondary, and flight feathers, one realistically layered on the next, and each completely crafted with hand-burned micro-barbs to capture natural light. The interaction between the bird and its environment is flawlessly engineered, showing organic, weight-bearing tension in the yellow talons as they grip the hand-textured falconer’s glove. The sculptor’s precise, anatomically correct view of the hunting Harrier further brings to life its piercing, focused, lifelike eyes. The entire composition is based on a real-world falconry practice by King, transformed into a glowing, ultra-fine wire-burning tip that painstakingly etches thousands of microscopic parallel striations directly into the grain, all from memory. To execute a masterwork, Bradford King likely used Tupelo gum or high-grade Basswood for the hawk and glove, featuring tight grain, non-splitting properties to accept intricate undercuts, and a predictable response to red-hot pyrography pens. The structural pedestal intentionally blends in contrasting premium hardwoods: smooth, light-hard Maple of the stepped oval platform, and a rugged section of dark Walnut or natural tree burl to authentically mimic a weathered falconry block.

This generational sculpture creates an excellent landscape background for raptor art collectors, natural history museums, and high-end designers alike. The startlingly lifelike appearance of the hawk's plumage is achieved through meticulous technique and an incredible optical illusion, made possible by an advanced technique called textural micro-feather woodburning. With biological precision, King focuses on the brilliant yellow talons wrapped around the perch and a supremely seamless depiction of the complete falconry system from wood carving. Hand-wrought leather cuffs, dangling jesses, to resemble pliable kangaroo leather, and an incredibly delicate swivel-and-cord assembly. The carved wooden glove grips the entire bird to depict full-grain ‘elk skin’ with prominent raised seam lines of heavy industrial stitching. The weight-bearing wooden faux-leather glove transitions into a dark, deeply textured, polished burl that resembles a weathered tree stump atop a finished, stepped maple base. Two inset black-and-silver plaques and the official artist identification, defined by a pen (w/age wear) and a whimsical field title, "Catch a What?" See less