Fish sculpture, fish decoys, fish carvings and fish trophies are the names given to a style of painted wood carving

Wood carving

Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...

 practiced by various artisan

Artisan

An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...

s. The works are kept as decorations and collectible

Collectible

A collectable or collectible is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector . There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old...

 as folk art

Folk art

Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....

.

British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 fish carvers include John B. Russell (Scottish), John and Dhuie Tully, P.B. Malloch and the Hardy Brothers. Artists Ellen McCaleb

Ellen McCaleb

Ellen McCaleb is a fish carver and painter who recreates trophy fish decoys off of client photographs and measurements. Her work follows the wood carving traditions established in Europe during the 19th century....

 & Eric L Knowlton work in the United States. Styles of carving can range from simple folk art, miniature decoys, 'European' style carvings (side profile of fish usually displayed on a wood panel) and highly detailed lifesized and ultra realism. For realism, some paint on scale patterns, others carve in the scale details but most of the World Championship realistic carvings feature scales burned in with a wood burning pen, one at a time, often with scale designs created just for that specific fish. Example from artist Eric L Knowlton of Reel Trout Studio, Alaska, shown here:

http://www.reeltrout.com/images/rainbow%20trout%2015%20inch%20wood%20fish%20carving%20c.jpg

The Gathering (show) bills itself as the world's largest wooden-carved fish decoy show and is held annually in Perham, Minnesota

Perham, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,559 people, 1,104 households, and 642 families residing in the city. The population density was 976.2 people per square mile . There were 1,167 housing units at an average density of 445.2 per square mile...

. It will be in its 13th year in 2010

Further reading

• Swanson, Ronald S. Fish Models, Plaques & Effigies. Far Hills, New Jersey: Meadow Run Press, Inc., 2009
• Bob Berry Fish Carving: An Introduction
• James Fliger Freshwater Fish Carving (Schiffer Book for Carvers) by 1989
• Rick Beyer Decorative Fish Carving 1990)
• Anthony Hillman Carving Traditional Fish Decoys: With Patterns and Instructions for 17 Projects 1993