DeGraff Exhibit Open at Maritime Museum

Examples of Pudge and Mary DeGraff’s wood carvings.

An exhibit celebrating the work of wood carver Edward “Pudge” DeGraff and his wife Mary opened July 6 at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay.

“We are thrilled with the amazing number of folks who reached out to us and were willing to loan their precious one-of-a-kind DeGraff carvings to us for the exhibit,” said the Museum’s Executive Director Bob Desh.

“The whimsical characters have traveled here from as far away as Waltham, Mass and Toronto, Canada to join their wooden cousins in our Reddin Bridge Room gallery. Over one hundred of Pudge and Mary’s extraordinary works are on display in the exhibit. This may very well be the largest number of DeGraff carvings ever displayed. I doubt that Pudge ever had this many carvings in his gallery at one time.”

Pudge began carving in the 1930s as a Boy Scout, spent his free time in the Navy developing his whittling skills and eventually resigned from his full-time job to carve on a full-time basis.

Pudge and his family moved to Sturgeon Bay in 1969 and the Whittler’s Workshop became one of the city’s most popular galleries. Pudge and Mary produced thousands of works until Pudge’s death in 1997.

The exhibit continues through Nov. 3. The museum, located at 120 N. Madison Ave., is open daily 9 am – 5 pm through Labor Day, and 10 am – 5 pm thereafter. For more information call 920.743.5958 or visit dcmm.org.