Carver ... and more
Bob
Spear is not just the Founding Director of the Birds
of Vermont Museum and bird carver. Into his 80s, he still
cut, transported and stacked all the firewood used to
heat his workshop. He mowed and maintained the trails on the 100 acres of
property, providing access to a rich variety of
habitats and animal species. Now approaching his mid-90s,
he has stepped away from some of these tasks.
Bob continues to maintain the butterfly gardens,
the large and small ponds, and the bird feeder area. He also
carves, when he is not watching the birds in and around the feeders, ponds, meadows, and forest.
Bob’s
passion is to use biologically accurate wood carvings
to teach both kids and adults about the importance
of birds and their role in the earth’s ecosystem.
The Birds of Vermont Museum is the only facility
in New England that uses woodcarvings as an educational
tool in this way. Learners observe and participate, some even learning to carve as well.
Family Biography
Bob
Spear was born in 1920 in Burlington, Vermont. In his
youth his parents encouraged him to explore the world
of nature around him. His early years were spent in
Massachusetts where his family moved when his mother
was unable to find a teaching job in Vermont. (At the time, they would not hire married women as teachers.) She found
work in Wyben, teaching in a one-room school house,
and Bob was her student for 6 years. Bob drew and painted
as a youngster and even learned to do taxidermy by
age 12.
After
his mother’s untimely death when Bob was just
14, the family moved back to Vermont to the family
farm in Colchester. Here he continued his self-education
as a naturalist, specializing in birds. Here too, at
age 18, Bob carved his first birds modeled after a
stray parakeet that flew into their shed, and has now
been carving birds for over 70 years.
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Naturalist and Author
With
his patient manner and keenly observant eye, Bob Spear
has become one of the state’s most distinguished
naturalists. After 10 years of farming, a tour in the
U.S. Navy, and nearly 20 years as a technical specialist
at General Electric in Burlington, Bob has devoted
his life to conservation and education. He founded
Vermont’s first chapter of the National Audubon
Society in 1962 and was also instrumental in the acquisition
and creation of the Green Mountain Audubon Nature Center,
which he directed for seven years. He was recipient
of the 1966 Wildlife Conservation Award, given by the
National Wildlife Federation “for outstanding
contributions to the wise use and management of the
nation’s natural resources.”
Spear
is author of Birds of Vermont and in 1979 he received
the Science Educator’s Award “for outstanding
contributions to science education in Vermont.”
In 2003 he was named a Fellow of the Vermont Academy
of Arts and Science, because of “outstanding
contribution to the Arts, Humanities, Sciences, or
Education.” In 2006, he received the Governor's Heritage Award for Traditional Artist.
Growing a Museum
After retiring
as director of the Green Mountain Audubon Center, Bob tried to find an
organization to display his growing collection of life-size carvings of
Vermont birds. Not finding anyone with the space needed to house this huge
project, he converted the barn next to his house, and in 1987 opened the
Birds of Vermont Museum to membership and the public. The collection
has grown to over 490 carvings of birds, with fewer than 50 birds needed to
complete the project.
Continuing his role as educator, in the late 1990s Bob trained an apprentice,
Ingrid Riga, who assisted in expanding the collection
during the first part of the new century.
Undaunted by the prospect of finishing the birds,
Bob plans to carve Vermont butterflies next, 100 of them, with their complete life cycles and favorite host plants.
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