Big Sky Carvers, Cabin Carvings, Bearfoots, Wildlife Woodcarvings and More!

Big Sky Bears Cabin Carvings		Wildlife Woodcarvings
Bearfoots		William Herrick Collection
Santas		Canine Collection


Don Profota	Big Sky Carvers became aware of Don’s work nine years ago when his birds were winning awards in competitions on both coasts. As a wildlife artist for sixteen years, Don has not only created many wood originals for us, but has also designed many of our highly prized paint schemes. At 45, Don is an intense outdoor enthusiast ani is among the numerous artists that have made Montana home. Don divides his time between his many outdoor pursuits, (fly fishing, bird hunting and flying), where he recently received recognition for flying a sailplane to an altitude of 34,000!
Bill Reel	Born and raised in Whitehall, Montana, Bill has been interested in art his entire life. Although he started mostly with pencil sketches, and other mediums of flatwork, he pursued his career in art by joining the craftsmen at Big Sky Carvers in 1990. It was here that he developed his admiration for wildlife, especially being intrigued by fish carvings and the ability to virtually “bring the fish to life” by applying airbrush technique to enhance breathtaking colors. In 1996, Bill received high honors in the Masters Fish Carving Competition in Wyoming for his “Jumping Rainbow Trout”. A year later, his Rainbow Trout carving titled, “Big Hole Ballet” won first place and Best of Class at the World Fish Carving Competition.
Bob Guge	Bob, a world-class carver and much sought after instructor, resides in Illinois with his wife and eight children. Bob is currently working on a series of cast reproductions for the Danbury Mint. He has coauthored a book on carving miniature wildfowl and has captured many prestigious carving awards during his 20-year career, including four “Best in World” titles at the Ward Foundation World Championships. His carvings are included in the permanent collection of the Wildfowl Art Museum in Salisbury, Maryland, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wassau, Wisconsin and in many private and corporate collections across the continent.
Ken White	Ken White, at age 33 is an up and coming young carver. He started his tenure with Big Sky Carvers in 1993, where he worked in the paint department before finding his niche as one of our Master Carvers in 1995. Although Ken has been carving since he was six years old, he did not start creating his master pieces for Big Sky Carvers until 1994. Big Sky Carvers held a carving contest, with the winner’s item being featured as one of our Masters’ Editions. Ken won that contest with his Kestrel carving and a new chapter in his career began.
John Gewerth	John being an avid waterfowl hunter for over 35 years didn’t see his first hand-carved decorative duck decoy until the mid-1970’s. Immediately he began collecting them and when that no longer satisfied him, he eventually started carving them himself. John has since won a number of “Best in Show’s” in regional decorative carving competitions. In 1981, he was awarded “Best of Show” Floating Decorative Decoy at the World Championship. From that point, he began competing in the Decorative Floating Pairs category and has finished in the top three at least four times. John began carving for Big Sky Carvers in 1983 and has enjoyed crafting decorative carvings ever since.
Ashley Gray	Ashley Gray, Big Sky Carvers newest Master Carver was born and raised in Maryland. He started carving at the age of thirteen and was awarded “Best Art Student in Maryland” during his junior and senior years in high school. In 1994, Ashley exhibited his carvings in the New York Art Expo. He won consecutive “Best in Show” at the New England Grand Championships from 1994 through 1997. In May of 1998, Rotary International chose Ashley to represent them in the Arts in Australia. Ashley carves all his original pieces of art from a single block of wood and it takes three to twenty four months to complete. Each sculpture tells a stone; some realistic and some surreal, evoking spirituality. His hope is that people who view his work will appreciate it as much as he enjoyed creating it. For it is, as Ashley describes, “a window to his heart.”