Hear Ye, Hear Ye, woodcarvers. Do you want to learn more, and see more of David Esterly? I just found out that CBS is going to do a feature on David on its Sunday Morning program.
David is, as you might know, a woodcarver who lives in upstate New York and is well known as one of the men most knowledgeable about Grinling Gibbons, as well as being a superb woodcarver himself. While knowing Gibbons from a historic viewpoint, Esterly is certainly not only an imitator or copier. Yes, he was trusted to recreate a heavily damaged Gibbons carving, and he is clearly masterful in carving pieces he defines as “Gibbonsy.” Yet his own work is truly original, easily as impressive, and stunningly beautiful. See here, here, here, and here.
So, what’s this about CBS Sunday Morning? For you who have not seen it, CBS Sunday Morning is a news and entertainment program shown on Sunday mornings in the U.S. It’s been around for 40 years, and often has at least one segment dedicated to art.
Soon, (I don’t know when) that segment will be about David Esterly.
How do I know? Earlier this week, a producer from CBS contacted me asking about my photos of Gibbons’ artwork here on this blog. Our communication was very brief, but enough to tell me CBS is putting the piece together for some future date and ~might~ want to use some of my photos. I’ll climb out on a limb and guess that they want to refer to the Gibbons part of Esterly’s story and have found that there’s a dearth of images available. I’m also guessing that even those that Esterly posseses are heavily restricted by his publisher’s licensing rights … and CBS has therefore gone looking for more. Of course, I agreed.