Miles Smith

Miles Smith, who worked for many years as a shipwright, developed a deep affection for the wildlife of the St. Clair River in his native Michigan. He made his first duck and fish decoys for his own use, but in the late 1970s, his work attracted wider recognition and began to sell. He acknowledges that other carvers make more realistic decoys, but prefers his personal approach, which includes working on a grand scale.

Lynda Hartigan Contemporary Folk Art: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999)