Carl Hild

As a child I was excited by visits to the Philadelphia Art Museum and later, as a teen, frequented the nearby Rodin Museum. My university studies provided opportunities to observe and draw Arctic mammals. I completed an apprenticeship in taxidermy that combined my interests in art and biology. In 1976, as a Master Taxidermist, I was offered the position of Head Taxidermist for the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, but a Presidential job freeze was put into effect before the paperwork was completed. My interest in ancient stone sites and carvings that were part of traditional means for maintaining a healthy body, were integrated into my advanced degrees and professional activities. In the mid-1990s, I began pursuing my passion of carving human forms as stone sculptures. While learning to handle the tools of sculpting on soft and then progressively harder stones, there were opportunities to read the rock in order to utilize its attributes for successful creations. Using only hand-tools and direct-carving methods, I focus on the expressive aspects of life-size hands in relation to the torso in promoting healthy body acceptance and relationships, while leaving aspects of the natural stone from which it is created.

Contact Points

email: Carl Hild