American wildfowl art owes its foundation to Lem Ward. This wood
carver and painter (1896-1984) overcame severe illness to produce
some of the best-loved wildfowl art extant today. Lem and his
brother Steve grew up along the marshes of the Chesapeake Bay in
Maryland and subsisted as barbers and foragers. They created carved
and painted ducks to please their independent selves-as works of
art, while carvers around them were making decoys just good enough
for hunting. Here Lem's life story is told by his daughter Ida who
was beside Lem for almost the entire span of his artistic career.
