Jack VanKauwenbergh – A Green Bay Carver, Hunter and Fisherman

Decoy Corner Article

By Bruce Urben, WWA President

All photos courtesy of the author from his private collection

Peter VanKauwenbergh, Jack’s father, immigrated to America in 1886 from Belgium. Peter was married and his son, Jack, was one of the first generation of American-born VanKauwenbergh’s. Jack (John) VanKauwenbergh was born in 1901 and helped operate the family dairy farm on the Northeast side of Green Bay. VanKauwenbergh’s were decendents of a long line of Flemish farmers.

VanKauwenbergh decoys are easily identifiable by their arched backs and later spray painting/combing

In 1926, Jack married Edna LeCuyer and moved off of the family farm. He found employment with the City of Green Bay as a street sweeper operator and general laborer. In 1935, Jack built his own house, which included a basement workshop where he began his decoy carving career. He began carving decoys in 1938 to provide additional income for his family; while Jack became interested in hunting ducks, he was never very successful at it. Jack had to resign from the City of Green Bay due to health reasons and relied on decoy carving for his livelihood. He sold his decoys to two sporting goods stores in the Green Bay area, initially for $7 per dozen, and by the time he quit carving he was getting $27 per dozen; good money during the depression years.

Jack’s decoy carving career only lasted about five years until he had his home mortgage paid. It’s estimated that he carved more than 1,000 decoys in that time.

VanKauwenberg decoys have pinched bills at the head and wide exaggerated bills.

Jack carved canvasback, mallard and bluebill decoys. Almost half of his decoys were bluebills and his canvasbacks were very rare. His decoy bodies were made from locally sourced white cedar, which were hollowed with a drill press. His heads were carved from pine and were attached with a screw through the bottom of the decoy. Jack’s wife, Edna, primed all of the decoys and Jack detail painted them by brush with oil paints. Later in his career he resorted to spray painting to be more efficient. He used a special combing technique on the backs to give a feather effect.

Jack’s decoys were very well constructed and sanded smooth. All have pinched bills at the head and high arching backs. There is no mistaking a VanKauwenbergh decoy with arching back, wide bill and turned head. Even today, with rough use over almost 90 years, his decoys show very few age splits or cracks and are still watertight!

Jack VanKauwenbergh passed away in 1964 at the age of 63. His decoys add an important chapter to the history of Green Bay decoy carvers. Even though he only carved for a few years, collectors still value his decoys quite highly.

Another Wisconsin original decoy carver.

 

Arthur “Bud” Bergman – A Van Dyne, Wisconsin Decoy Carver

Decoy Corner Article

By Bruce Urben, WWA President

Van Dyne, Wisconsin is a small village located in the Town of Friendship in Fond du Lac county. Some may call it an “intersection” village, located several miles north of the City of Fond du Lac and a stone’s throw west of Lake Winnebago. Van Dyne is close to several prime waterfowling areas at Eldorado marsh, Rush Lake and the Winnebago chain. This small village is also the hometown of the Bergman Brothers, Arthur and Orville.

An Art Bergman decoy from the author’s collection. Photo courtesy Bruce Urben.

Art “Bud” Bergman was born in 1914 and his brother, Orville, was born two years earlier. They both lived their whole life in Van Dyne. Art was an avid waterfowler, hunting the area’s duck hot beds. He began carving decoys in the 1930’s for his own use and became quite proficient carving anything in wood. This led him to teach decoy carving at the local technical school in Fond du Lac for some time.

Art carved most species of waterfowl, but was best known for his bluebills and coot, which migrated to Lake Winnebago in large numbers each fall. Early in his carving career, he sold many hand-carved decoys to area hunters. After his retirement from the technical school, Art built a duplicating lathe at his small shop in Van Dyne to speed up his decoy production. He turned out bodies and heads in less time and finished them with knives, draw shaves, rasps and sandpaper. Art turned out thousands of decoys, many of which he sold unpainted to supply needs of local waterfowlers. Art painted some of his decoys and others were shipped out and painted by area artists. One painter in the state of Maine in particular was George Soule’s daughter (see the L.L. Bean Decoy Corner article for more info.), who was a well known decoy artist. It is remarkable that a local carver from small-town Wisconsin had connections with a highly noted East Coast artist in the 1930-40’s without benefit of websites, social media, computers or sometimes even phones!

Many feel that Art’s decoys closely resembled Mason Decoys, which were also produced from duplicating lathes popular in 1920-1930.

Art’s decoys had smooth bodies and little to no feather carving. He provided some detail in the heads, depicting the head/bill separation and nostrils. Most were provided with glass eyes and were simply painted to represent the species. Art’s brother Orville “Orv”  also carved decoys for his own use, however, after Art passed away in 1985, Orville took over the duplicating lathe until his death in 2005, carrying on the Bergman decoy tradition.

Needless to say, there are many Bergman decoys still being used and many more stored away in boathouses, garages and basements waiting to be found by collectors. Unfortunately, most Bergman decoys have little or no identification marking or signage. Skilled collectors are able to identify Bergman decoys from Mason’s and there are several online resources to help.

Art Bergman was a talented Wisconsin decoy carver, teacher, entrepreneur and waterfowler who left his mark on the decoy market in Winnebago-land. A classic decoy that is a prize on anyone’s mantel!

George F. Shrake – Lake Poygan Decoy Carver

Decoy Corner Article

By Bruce Urben, WWA President

All photos courtesy the author

George Shrake Bluebill

There have been quite a few great decoy carvers that nave lived on or near Lake Poygan, which lies in Waushara and Winnebago counties in Wisconsin. Poygan is a waterfowler’s lake, part of the Winnebago chain just north and west of Little Lake Butte des Morts and the City of Oshkosh. Poygan, with its shallow depth and emergent vegetation, is a stopover rest spot for migrating waterfowl. Wild rice and wild celery were historically found in Poygan but have since been all but eliminated. The village of Tustin is one town on the northwest end of Lake Poygan that was home to several great carvers – George Shrake and August Moak.

George F. Shrake was born in 1906 and grew up hunting, fishing and trapping on Lake Poygan. In the 1930’s, George purchased several decoys from August Moak, his neighbor in Tustin. George used these decoys as patterns to make his own hunting rig of decoys. A year later George had assembled a large rig of decoys for his own use on Poygan. He carved mainly bluebill and canvasback; very few other species are known to have been carved by Shrake.

George began using cedar to fashion his bodies, and basswood or pine for his heads. His decoys were all hollowed and he used glass eyes in the heads. As you might guess, George’s decoys closely resembled Gus Moak decoys and have many times been confused with Moak’s work. One identifying feature is the method of attaching the head on Shrake’s decoys. George used a wood dowel extending through the top of the head, while Moak used a double threaded screw from inside the body to connect his heads.

Shrake also took less time in smoothing the bodies on his decoys. All are much rougher than Moak’s and show clear rasp marks. George’s painting was very similar to Moak’s, oil paint with simple realistic patterns and little shading. Many of George’s bluebill decoys have flattened eye pockets rather than eye grooves and his bodies were carved with a noticeable hump back, again much like Moak.

The bottom of the author’s George Shrake Bluebill was originally mistaken for a Gus Moak decoy

Very seldom will you see a signed or labeled decoy by Shrake. Later in George’s career he carved a number of decoys with a balsa body, which was more available after WWII.

George’s total decoy output was quite small, estimated to be less than 100 decoys. As you might expect, collectors highly value Shrake decoys. Identification is the key to differentiating a Shrake from a Moak, which many times comes down to an X-ray to confirm the head attachment.

George passed away in 1986 at the age of 80 while living in Waushara County near his childhood home.

I am honored to have one of George’s early humpback bluebills… and yes, this one was originally misidentified as a Gus Moak!

Charlie Corbin – A Bay of Green Bay Waterfowler, Decoy Carver and Boat Maker

Decoy Corner Article

By Bruce Urben, WWA President

All photos courtesy the author

The Bay of Green Bay is located on the northwest side of Lake Michigan. Major tributaries to Lake Michigan, including the Fox, Oconto, Peshtigo and Menominee Rivers, all flow into Green Bay. Green Bay is a relatively shallow arm of Lake Michigan and it has been, and continues to be, a highly productive waterfowl area, a historic waterfowl breeding area and a stop-over spot for migrating waterfowl.

This article is about another of the many Bay of Green Bay decoy carvers from the turn of the century.

Charles Corbin was born in 1872 and was married to his wife, Maggie, in the early 1900’s. Corbin was a passionate and avid waterfowler on the Bay, as was his wife, who accompanied him on many hunts. The Corbins had a hunting cabin near the mouth of the Suamico River, about 15 miles north of the City of Green Bay. His cabin was located near the present day location of the Barkhausen Wildlife preserve. Louis Barkhausen was a local industrialist, avid waterfowler and early supporter of Ducks Unlimited nationally.

Charlie Corbin retired from his job as a saw tooth filer for the J.L. Lumber Co. sawmill in Menominee, Michigan. In retirement, Charlie was able to continue his passion of waterfowling on Green Bay. In the early 1900’s, Charles began to carve his own decoys and later in the 1920’s he began selling his decoys to local “sports”. In addition to decoy carving Charlie was known for making quality boats and skiffs.

Charlie’s decoys were typical of those used on the Bay of Green Bay. Large bodied, solid and hollow decoys with high heads that rode the rough waters of the Bay extremely well. All of his decoys were carved of wood harvested locally. They had glass eyes and his bodies were carved in two pieces with the seam well above the waterline. His heads had some detail carving and most had carved separation of the of the bill from the head. He used a simple paint scheme with quality oil paint that was specific to the species.

No one seems to know the number of decoys that Charlie carved, but it is known that his favorite species were all divers, including canvasbacks, buffleheads, redheads and bluebills.

Charlie Corbin, another original decoy carver and waterfowler who made his living on the Bay of Green Bay after retirement. Charlie passed away at the age of 84 in 1956.