Don’s lifetime of experience began at the age of thirteen years old when he was taught to carve and paint by the world famous decoy artists, Lem and Steve Ward, in the waterman’s town of Crisfield, MD on the Chesapeake Bay. The Ward Brothers pioneered the art of decorativ e decoy wood carving and painting. By age 15, Don had customers for his decoy artwork around the country. Calling his business “Chesapeake Wildfowl Decoys”, he sold up and down the east coast to individuals and companies that included Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. and Crossroads of Sport, both of New York City, and Wilson Sport stores in New England.
When bird carving became a fine art form in the 1960’s, Don exhibited and competed until the early 1980’s. His original wood carvings are in major collections that include the Smithsonian Institution of Washington DC and the Ward Foundation of Salisbury, MD. His work was chosen for a traveling exhibition that toured Japan and England, introducing American bird carving to the world. Don earned a degree in Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and worked with Ecuadorian crafts people in the Peace Corps.
In 1973 he opened his first studio in Dallastown, PA, later moving with his family to Mt. Airy, MD and established the Overboard Art Studio in 1985.Don Briddell has won numerous awards from the Ward Foundation, The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science, National Wildlife Art Collector’s Society, Wildfowl Arts Festival in San Diego, CA, and The Wildlife and Western Art Exhibition in Minneapolis, MN.In 1976, a pair of his Mallards was one of 126 objects selected from 14,000 entries to be in the Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery’s American Craft Bicentenary Exhibition. In 2003 Don was selected to create a unique bird ornament for the White House Christmas Tree, one of the artists representing the state of Maryland. |
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