Montana Wild

Montana Wild was the result of many contributing factors all culminating into something really spectacular. However, before I get into that discussion, I want people to know that this kayak has seen many voyages. Each time this boat goes out on the water, a profound feeling of joy, giddiness, satisfaction, and simple wonderment is discovered by all who paddle it — including myself. It’s often said by those who encounter this kayak, “It’s too pretty to put in the water.” This notion is typically forgotten once you take those first few paddle strokes. Then you’ll realize that you are, indeed, paddling floating art — and you’re going very fast!

This kayak was the result of meeting some wonderful people during my first experience exhibiting at Port Townsend WBF in 2022. Firstly, I met a contributing writer for Wooden Boat Magazine named Larry who became captivated with the work I had done up to that point. He approached me with idea of writing an article that featured how I do the inlay work on the decks of these kayaks. Needless to say, it didn’t take long to arrive at a “Yes, I’m in!” decision. In order to proceed, however, an entirely new boat would have to be built for the article and the photography piece. A new concept for a boat would need to arise, and featuring wildlife seemed to lend itself perfectly to this project. Larry would later come over to my workshop to document, photograph, and write a fantastic article of my inlay process for the magazine. We have been good friends ever since.

Later during that same festival, I was approached by a film and videographer named Mike who wanted to have me shoot video of an entirely new kayak build. It all seemed fortuitous to have all these planets line up perfectly. Developing the concept of Montana and some of its most iconic wildlife seemed like an ideal fit for this whole project to get rolling. With the general concept in hand, getting equipment to shoot video to present to Mike, based in Newport Beach, CA, also presented challenges. However, after talking to some local professional photographer friends, they were more than willing to provide the needed equipment to shoot over 425 hours of footage. Mike ultimately edited this footage down to 39 minutes and presented a short film that can be viewed on YouTube.

Lastly, this kayak build was intended to check some big boxes. More importantly to me, it was to test and expand the horizons of my skill sets. I believe I achieved this by increasing the overall complexity of the inlays, the installations of those inlays, and expanding the artistic realms of balancing theme, flow, conceptual versus realism, and knowing where and how to edit. For this, I’m forever grateful to my good friend Donna, an accomplished art teacher. Montana packs a lot, but it all comes together perfectly whether you’re looking at it for the first (or 20th) time — or even paddling it. Hope you find joy when you see it.

A real live person with too much sawdust on the brain wrote this. And no wildlife was under duress or harmed during the production of this build.
Cheers!