Art of the Sea Galleries

Beginning art instruction at age 8, Wick Ahrens had a traditional education, studying at Vesper George School of Art in Boston, and at San Francisco Art Institute, and in the studio of his mentor, Clark Voorhees of Weston, Vermont.
		"Moby"
Mr. Ahrens had been sculpting whales for two years, working at cabinetry to support his obsession with seagoing mammals, when he took the plunge - he went to sea. In Mexico's Baja Peninsula, Ahrens studied gray whales during their annual retreat from Alaska for mating and calving. In San Ignacio Lagoon, a 40-foot whale allowed the artist to stroke its throat - a rare encounter which transformed Ahren's life and, of course, his art. Not long thereafter, he was commissioned to sculpt an 18-foot whale for permanent display in the Coyote Point Museum in 1985. This sculpture is the largest wooden cetacean in the world. During a pilgrimage to Maui, Mr. Ahrens swam with humpbacked whales, observing at awesomely close range their behavior, their power and grace, and even their individual personalities. In his studio overlooking Tomales Bay, he began hand-painting a series of the massive carved portraits, applying barnacles and scars realistic enough to match the vitality he was capturing in their forms. But Wick was raised on the butterfat of a Vermont dairy farm, and could not stay at sea. He relocated from California, establishing his studio in Peru, Vermont. He sculpts full time, studying his subjects by film and photo, with assistance from marine biologists. Devoted to the essential whale, he makes his own life a bridge between sugar pine timbers and those mysterious creatures who left the land 50 million years ago. Like the national treasure artists of Japan, Mr. Ahrens produces only a few pieces each year. The result is completely original yet authentic interpretations of various species. His work is represented in MBNA America Bank, and in many public museums, galleries and private collections.
		"I find myself dancing in the shop to get the poetic movement of these animals"

		*EXHIBITIONS:*
		Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA Coyote Point Museum, San Mateo, CA Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA Maui Art Exposition, Maui, HI Mystic Maritime Museum, Mystic, CT Inverness Gallery, Inverness, CA Mayhew Gallery, Mendocino, CA Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT Robert Wilson Galleries, Nantucket, MA Quester Gallery, Stonington, CT

		*MEMBERSHIPS:*
		Copley Society of Boston Society of Animal Artists