American Harrier Hawk & Handler 2003 – Carved Wooden Sculpture Signed Bradford King

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The Northern Harrier, a highly versatile raptor, thrives in a variety of expansive, primarily low-vegetation environments utilizing riparian zones and … Read more The Northern Harrier, a highly versatile raptor, thrives in a variety of expansive, primarily low-vegetation environments utilizing riparian zones and wetland margins as secondary cover and hunting grounds. Bradford King’s professional dedication to wildfowl art, deeply informed by his early life exploring Eastern coastal environments near Ocean Beach and Fire Island, fostered a lifelong obsession with avian biology and predatory raptors. Following the work of earlier ornithologists, valuing the historical illustrations of John James Audubon, King sought to transcend the flatness of traditional two-dimensional field guides and bring natural history to life as a fully realized three-dimensional sculpture. 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, famously integrated actual taxidermy feathers, leather jesses, and authentic falconry elements, which King incorporated into his pieces, resulting in this custom sculpture. The "Catch a What?" title showcases the bird’s specialized functions, posed in a wildlife setting. His carvings were strictly one-of-a-kind, of many original commission pieces, and a highly limited catalog rarely surfacing on open platforms. Elevating his crafted wood falconry hawk sculpture to three dimensions and handcrafted at half-scale, he transforms it from a standard piece of folk art into a true, detailed masterpiece of natural history. His expertise is instantly visible from any vantage point, and King captures the Northern Harrier's distinctive owl-like facial roundness, skewing the angle of its head, masterfully mimicking the exact alert posture of a live raptor, scanning for food. From top to bottom, the sculpture reveals the perfect curvature at the shoulders and a detailed cascading mantle of feathers. Each primary, secondary, and flight feather is realistically layered on the next, and each is completely crafted with hand-burned micro-barbs that capture natural light. From the bottom up, the interaction between the bird and its environment is flawlessly engineered, showing organic, weight-bearing tensions in the yellow talons as they grip the hand-textured falconer’s glove, accurately rendered. The sculptor’s precise, anatomically correct view of the hunting Harrier further brings to life its piercing, focused, lifelike eyes. Down the torso, the soft, downy breast features intricately drop-shadowed hand-painted chevrons to mimic seamlessly the transition of its primary and secondary flight feathers, folded cleanly at the flanks of thousands of individual, light-catching, ‘burned-in’ micro-barbs. The drooping leather jesses seamlessly ground the entire composition in the real-world practice of falconry. King had used a glowing, ultra-fine wire-burning tip, painstakingly etching thousands of microscopic parallel striations directly into the grain, from memory. To execute a masterwork, Bradford King likely used Tupelo gum or high-grade Basswood for the hawk and glove, both featuring tight grain, non-splitting properties to accept intricate undercuts, and a predictable response to red-hot pyrography pens. The structural pedestal blends intentionally with contrasting premium hardwoods: a smooth, light-hard Maple for 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 in an environment sought by raptor art collectors, 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 a highly advanced technique called textural micro-feather woodburning, or feather burning. With biological precision, King focuses on the brilliant yellow talons wrapped around the perch and a supremely seamless depiction of the complete falconry system. Hand-wrought leather cuffs, dangling jesses, to resemble pliable kangaroo leather, and the incredibly delicate swivel-and-cord assembly. The entire bird is gripped by the carved wooden glove, depicting a full-grain elk skin and prominent raised seam lines of heavy industrial stitching. Its 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, with 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