Nebraskaland

30 Nebraskaland • November 2025 It's the shadows, layers and depth that keep it less stiff ." Besides learning from and helping other carvers, Norm admits his greatest reason for carving. "The only reason I carve is because I like to paint." Many carvings ago, he took fi ve years of instruction from a local artist. On the fi rst night of class, he brought a tackle box of paints and brushes. "What's that?" the teacher asked. Once he explained, she followed. "Well, you can take that home because you won't need it for two years." "For the next two years," Norm said, "we worked on composition and mediums. It was often boring, but it was rewarding to make my carvings more animated and more comfortable when I got the paint out." In Norm's mind, decoy carving has a few simple steps. In the beginning you survive. Then you model great work around you. Finally, the process starts to become your own. What Color to Put Where After Bill Arneson from Lincoln took a carving class at Southeast Community College a couple of years ago, he was off and running. He spent his early carving days making decorative plates but has since moved on to the task of carving decoys. The club's fi rst instruction was to start small, giving Bill the assignment of a miniature decoy, which has many advantages. "You start to learn the anatomy of the bird and what color to put where," said Bill. "There's a diff erence between the back of the bird and its wing pockets. Painting is intense. It has been the diffi cult part for me." Like many of the club's carvers, they lean on each other for instruction. "I have an appointment with Norm soon so he can help me get the details of the feathers. He knows the anatomy of the bird so well." Bill's next step is a full-size decoy. "Starting with the miniature is great because I learned that the tail feathers have to go this way, and the head has to be shaped like this. And the bill has to be cut just right. I can look at the miniature to go by, and that's a big plus." Carving by Necessity Originally, Tom Christie from Ashland began carving decoys out of necessity. "While I was duck hunting, I couldn't get goldeneyes to come to my river rig when I was using other decoys." Once he started carving his own, "the goldeneyes came right in." In 1986, Tom began submitting his carvings to competitions. There are 12 categories, he said. These include mantel, what he deemed "fancy" birds, miniatures, functional and even a "no holds barred" category where carvers can go all out on any number of methods. In some of the categories, like the hunting ones, the decoys have to be placed in a water tank to ensure they fl oat upright. Regardless of the category Tom competes in, he is constantly challenged by his lifelong pastime. "The diffi cult part for me is sculpting a bird in the preening position where it looks comfortable." The painting can also be a challenge, even though he enjoys this process the most. "Adding a third dimension with the painting is a challenge for me." But the draw for the entire process is simple. "I love seeing something to fruition. It comes to life." Either on the competition table or in the duck blind. Simply Love the Work Chances are you have seen Cliff Hollestelle's work. This carver from Lincoln has been featured in this magazine before, and his bronze sculptures have been on display across the country. Yet he, too, is a member of the Central Flyway Decoy Collectors and Carvers Club, having started carving in the 1960s while getting an art degree in college. His work is meticulously detailed, but he also knows where his limitations are. "I don't make a lot of folksy birds," he said, describing birds that resemble simple portrayals versus real- life interpretations. "But I really like them. People have an This miniature redhead duck was Bill Arneson's fi rst carving for the club. It relaxes him, he said, but it also has an added health benefi t. "My doctor told me to keep my fi ngers moving, because I have rheumatoid arthritis."

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