A Decoy Corner Article
By Bruce Urben, President
Pat Gregory hunting with a bull canvasback
I am changing it up a little this month and highlighting a carver from Illinois, our close southern neighbor. Patrick J. Gregory, 62, lives in Bloomington, Illinois and is carving decoys for a living in the tradition of his great grandfather, George “Skippy” “Homerun” Barto. Barto (1880-1959) was a semi-professional baseball player who was also an avid Illinois River waterfowler and decoy carver. Barto carved with one of Illinois’ greatest carvers, Charles Perdew. Barto also taught Art Behmetuik of Lockport, Illinois the art of carving decoys in the Illinois River style.
Pat Gregory was employed by State Farm Insurance Co. when his sister began researching their family genealogy. Pat was intrigued to find out about his great Grandfather’s carving and was immediately interested in trying to carry on the family tradition. Although his great Grandfather was no longer around to mentor Pat, Art Behmetuik was there to guide him in Barto’s tradition. Art had kept all of George’s patterns and hand tools when he passed away, and much to his delight, shared them with Pat.
A Pat Gregory decoy owned by Bruce Urben
Pat studied Commercial Art in college for several years and was a quick study. He began his carving career in 1983 with the support of his wife and was fully smitten by the decoy bug. Pat is an avid waterfowler himself and hunts over his own handmade decoys. He insists that hand carved decoys were meant to be used on the water.
The bottom of a Gregory decoy
Pat’s carving and painting style has evolved over the years to be his own style. He provides “how to” videos, demonstrations and YouTube presentations on the internet and is a highly sought after speaker and live demonstrator. Gregory prefers to use cedar or redwood for his decoy bodies and white pine or basswood for his heads. He uses power tools sparingly and enjoys using the hand tools of his great Grandfather. He uses inexpensive paint and brushes, and his patterns are simple but effective. He utilizes scratch painting techniques and feather stamping on many of his decoys. Each of his decoys are stamped on the bottom with “PJG”, as well as on the keel, if one is attached. Those decoys purchased directly from Pat are personally signed and dated.
Gregory, left and Urben, right hunting on the Bay of Green Bay with Gregory’s decoys
Pat is not only a master carver but a collector of working decoys from contemporary makers. Many in his collection are used by him each fall and returned to the shelf to admire the rest of the year. Pat carves several hundred decoys a year and many of his blocks can be found on dedicated decoy auction sites; many selling for hundreds of dollars each.
Pat Gregory has established himself as an excellent working decoy carver, carving mentor, collector and educator. I have had the pleasure of working with Pat as a decoy judge at the Wisconsin Decoy Carving Contest and Exhibition the last three years. Just this last October, I had the opportunity to layout boat hunt with Pat on the Bay of Green Bay… and yes, we were hunting over several long lines of his hand carved diver decoys. And they were very effective!
Pat J. Gregory from Bloomington, Illinois – Master Carver, collector and dear friend!