Alvirah Wright

Alvirah Wright was a boat builder and logger specializing in the harvest of juniper and cypress trees. Wright did little hunting, but between 1900 and 1925, he carved a couple hundred decoys (Coppedge 104). His total output consists of a few scaup and redheads, a large battery of canvasbacks and a rig of ruddy ducks. All of Wright’s work was done by hand with a hatchet, draw knife and spokeshave. With a pocketknife, Wright incised details and then sanded each one of his lures. His solid birds have large wide bodies with rounded bottoms and upswept tails. High heads with delicate bills compliment the bodies. A pragmatic carver, Alvirah Wright painted his decoys to resemble the species he was reproducing.