South Carolina’s renowned artist, wood sculptor Grainger McCoy, says it all started in Beaufort, SC in the early 70s for him and William Means Rhett. Oysterman and artist Gilbert Maggioni passed his legacy to these two young men.
Woodcarving cast in bronze by Grainger McCoy
William Means Rhett
Fighting Gamecocks -Wood Carving by Willam Means Rhett (larger image at the end of this article). 7 feet high carving
I remember the first time I stepped into the Rhett Gallery on Bay Street in historic Beaufort. I came face to face with the “Fighting Gamecocks,” a stunning seven-foot work by Billy Rhett.
Each piece is carved feather by feather in basswood. He is nationally known and highly regarded for his wildfowl carvings which are exhibited and featured through a number of art exhibitions. He also creates large-format oil paintings that will make you stop all of a sudden, put down your cell phone, and enjoy the moment.
Art from generations of family members covered the walls; Bill’s carvings and paintings, his wife Nancy’s paintings, and their son William Rhett III’s work as well. Part gallery and part museum - a place for casual viewing of antique maps, Civil War relics, and rare memorabilia. Their generosity provided many captivating paintings for publication in my Southern lifestyle series of books Shrimp, Collards and Grits, recipes, and stories from the creeks and gardens of the Lowcountry.
They are a gifted, gracious, and generous family. Along with their art, knowledge of history and culture, they offer a big dose of true Southern hospitality.
Grainger McCoy
“The sculptor in me began to emerge as I worked under the wing of Gilbert Maggioni of Beaufort, South Carolina, for two years in the early 1970s. He challenged me like no one before or since. Maggioni inoculated me against mediocrity while at the same time encouraging innovation and preaching there is no substitute for hard work,” says Grainger McCoy.
Feather by feather, McKoy captured the beauty of birds as few artists ever have. He takes a piece of basswood and methodically carves away the excess parts of it until he finds the bird inside. Each feather is etched with a burning tool and then carefully inserted into the bird's body, which is carved from yet another larger piece of wood. His carvings create the bird exactly as it is - to the feather, accurate in every way and so life-like that each bird looks like it begins to breathe in life and fly away.
Covey Rise -wood carving by Grainger McCoy
L.P. Maggioni & Company
The L.P. Maggioni & Company established its first cannery on Daufuskie Island in 1893 and built five more along the coast. His oysters were shipped worldwide, even to the Tsar Nicolas of Russia. Eventually overharvesting and pollution took their toll and one by one the canneries closed. Large-scale live shucking operations continued into the 1970s, shipping oysters out iced down and raw. It all came to a close somewhere in the mid to late 70s.
Not too far from the shucking house he had a shed full of wood chips and half-carved decoys. He now had more time for his love of painting and carving. Before the oyster factory closed Rhett and McKoy had worked in the factory without pay because, after about twelve hours of grueling work, he let them watch as he worked on decoys, creating sculptures of wood that looked more like taxidermy than carving. Rhett says, “He was an ornery old cuss.”
A hundred or more feathers would be individually carved and inserted into the wooden bodies of herons, hawks, and game birds. Maggioni taught them well. From these humble beginnings, both Rhett and McKoy refined their techniques and both have become acclaimed artists in their own right.
The craftsmanship, artistry, and patience their work entails are beyond anything I have ever seen. McCoy’s most famous work is “Covy Rise,” created from his emotional memory, an artist’s most important tool.
The impact of their work is stunning, brilliant.
To have something he could sell when he wasn’t working McCoy expanded into creating jewelry, gamebird brooches, feathered rings, and pendants in gold and silver.
Fighting Gamecocks - woodcarving by William Means Rhett is 7 feet high
Fighting Gamecocks woodcarving by William Means Rhett
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