Page 70 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2017

The Gulf Coast may seem an unlikely place to find lost art forms, but that’s exactly what artist Craig Brumfield specializes in. Raised in Ocean Springs, Brumfield developed a love of nature and began his career sketching the marine animals and wildlife he grew up around. After taking years of art classes in school, Brumfield furthered his education with a fine arts degree from the University of Mississippi.
www.craigbrumfield.com
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STORY BY KELSEY SUNDERMAN-FOSTER PHOTOS COURTESY OF CRAIG BRUMFIELD
Brumfield enjoys a variety of mediums, including oil, pencil, ink and watercolor, but his art has evolved to include a type of mixed-media art that centers around animal remains, such as bone. This art style is called Scrimshaw, or engravings made in either bone or ivory. “Not many people still do this type of art,” he said. “It was originally done in whale teeth in the past, but nowadays so many people have swordfish bills left over from their catch with nothing to do with them.”
His scrimshaw designs feature marine animals, often times the swordfish themselves, and are highlighted with pigment. The making of scrimshaw can be traced back to whaling ships around the 1750s. Fun fact: the maker of scrimshaw is known as a scrimshander.
Brumfield also creates incised pottery and gyotaku, a traditional Japanese method for printing fish. This process originates back to the mid-1800s and is speculated to have been used by fishermen to record the size of their catches. For his artwork, Brumfield applies pigment to fish or other aquatic animals to create a relief print, complete with scale patterns.
While he typically performs this process with billfish, Brumfield has created a gyotaku of the world record alligator. “It’s the only gator I’ve done so far, and it’s the world’s largest,” he said. “The gator was 15.9 feet long and weighed 1,011.6 pounds.”
Even after attending the Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival for 18 years, Brumfield says he’s always excited for the next one.“The festival continues to get better year after year,” he said. “It’s a great atmosphere, and I look forward to seeing return customers who have come to see what’s new and different.”
BOOTH #401 & #402
70 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • October 2017
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