A.J. Rudisill

A.J. Rudisill lives in West Atlantic City, New Jersey. He first began carving in 1976, and managed to win Third in Show at the World Championship the following year in 1977. In 1978 and 1983 he won Best in Show at the World Championship for his Life-sized decorative carvings. Before Rudisill began carving he was a well-known for his wildlife paintings and prints on an international level. At the age of 8 Rudisill began to paint birds as a Boy Scout. He continued painting throughout the rest of his life as a self-taught artist. His artwork has been used for the National Wildlife and Franklin Mint Bird Stamp programs. He was also featured as the official artist for The National Audubon Society’s series “The Birds of the Countryside Porcelain Plate Collection.” The idea of carving was first introduced to Rudisill by John Sheeler at one of his traveling exhibits in 1975. Rudisill put off carving for a few more years until he contacted Sheeler for a second time to ask for help with carving a boat wheel. After Sheeler saw what a good job Rudisill did in carving the boat wheel, he encouraged and supplied Rudisill with the materials he would need to start carving on his own. From his first block of wood he carved an award winning Red-bellied Wood Pecker. He now splits his time between painting and carving. Rudisill believes that having an accurate subject specimen is an essential part of the process when creating realistic birds.