Ingrid Riga, Apprentice Carver
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Apprentice and CuratorIngrid Riga joined the Birds of Vermont Museum some 10 years ago. Impressed by Bob Spear's skill, she has been studying wood carving with him. In the past several years, her work has contributed to the collection in numerous ways, in addition to her curator duties. Ingrid created the "Raptors Above" exhibit that is suspended over the "Nesting Birds" exhibit on the second floor. With Bob, she continues to coordinate the development of the Wetland Diorama exhibits, and to add birds, such as the Common Tern, to the collection. She regularly produces illustrations of birds for our newsletter. |
About IngridIngrid was born in England, and moved to Canada as a young child. She developed her interest and talents as an artist during primary and secondary school. She furthered her education at McGill University in Montréal. Although ultimately receiving her B.A (with honors) in German, she took all the studio art classes McGill had to offer. Wanting to further her education and art skills she continued her studies at Concordia University, also in Montréal, and received a B.F.A specializing in studio art. The program included working in many media and she found herself drawn to painting. After graduating she continued painting. She spent a few years creating murals and wall paintings within homes of her fellow Canadians. Ingrid moved to Vermont in the late 1970s. In addition to continuing with wall paintings and other personal pursuits, she taught calligraphy and stenciling within her community of Chittenden County. Ingrid started at the Birds of Vermont Museum in the mid 1990s as an administrative assistant. Recognizing her talents as an artist, her duties expanded into exhibit creation. Her first project at the Museum was to create the 18 life-size and biologically accurate raptors for the "Hawks in Flight" exhibit, to aid visitors in learning hawk identification. Soon after, Bob took her under his wing (so to speak) and began teaching her the art of wood carving. Her carving education began with Bob teaching her to carve the parts of his birds that were not visible to the public. As her skills grew she began carving complete birds for the Museum’s displays. She currently has six completed birds in the Museum’s permanent collection. She has an additional two birds under construction. She has also carved three birds to be raffled off as Museum fundraisers and completed 12 wooden ornaments as thank you gifts for Museum donors. As Ingrid’s interests and skills as a wood carver grew she became involved with the Green Mountain Wood Carvers and served as their president in 2003. Currently, she is on their show committee. She is also a member of the New England Woodcarvers and was a guest lecturer at their annual meeting in 2005. Ingrid demonstrates the art of wood carving weekly at the Museum during our open season. She has also demonstrated at wildlife festivals, welcome centers, art festivals, and other venues around Vermont. Ingrid has taught hundreds of children how to carve with soap both at the Museum and festivals around the state. Ingrid furthers her knowledge and skills as a wood carver by taking classes at every opportunity. She has taken classes in relief carving, wood turning, in the round carving, and pyrography. She is skilled and experienced with both power tools and hand tools. Expanding her horizons both personally and professionally Ingrid traveled to Australia the past two winters. In Denmark (Western Australia) Ingrid joined the local wood carving group, demonstrated carving techniques weekly at the Denmark visitor center, participated in a 4-day wood show, took classes, and experimented with local Australian wood (“It’s like working in cement”). She also carved a Western Rosella Parrot that was sold to support a local charity. |
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