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Trained as a wooden boat builder in Maine, he ran his own boatbuilding shop in Yarmouth Maine for ten years. Then he started carving name-boards for boats, and name-boards soon became its own business, as TJ began carving signs, nationally and internationally, for townships, municipal buildings, and specialty retailers. At some point TJ got his snoot full of having to deal with typically egotistical art directors, on the carved signage, and focused his work on creating one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Weathervanes, sculptures in wood, stone, multi media, and yes, Bugs! He started an art gallery in Portland, Maine, as a way to gain more exposure for his work. But back to the bugs! As he was cleaning up his studio one day, he found some desiccated insects among the sawdust, and a beetle caught his eye: the colors were fantastic, and so he was off and running. Hooked up with a insect-specimen seller in the Philippines, whom he would send 50 bucks, and would get back these gorgeous, dried, and carefully wrapped beetles, dragonflies, grasshoppers, et al., usually destined for entomological researchers and collectors. He found, with experimentation, that if he rehydrated the bugs, he could gently move their legs, wings, and whatever other extremities, into various positions. He would then pin them in these new positions to a board, until they were completely dry again.., and voilà, the art presented itself. Not only are the compositions stunning, the bugs are even more so! Who would’ve believed the fantastic color array? Who has ever seen a grasshopper’s wing, to discern the delicate and subtle colorations? These compositions are done with a sense of humor, by having bugs, surrounding a stone, or other object, and seemingly either protecting or scrambling for it. Please note that each piece is a one-of-a-kind piece, and when TJ makes a duplicate, the stones don’t always, by necessity, match the one we’ve photographed…
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Clemens Designer Teddys
Elless Whistles
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