Travis Tuck (February 20, 1943 – November 18, 2002) was a

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...

based metal sculptor known for his hand-crafted weather vanes of repoussé

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

and

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

. His works turn in the wind above Steven Spielberg's East Hampton estate and 110 feet over Penn State's Beaver Stadium.

Youth

Born February 20, 1943, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, Tuck grew up with his family in the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

suburb of

Pompton Lakes Pompton Lakes is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,097,Ziegfeld dancers, his maternal grandmother, Hettie May Tucket, survived the Galveston Flood as a child floating on a door. His mother, Margaret Cox, married

Jay Nelson Tuck Jay Nelson Tuck (1916-1985) was a journalist, television critic and president of The Newspaper Guild of New York City. He held reporting and editing posts at the New York World-Telegram and Sun, The New York Post and at Medical World News, ...

, a celebrated journalist who was the

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

's first radio and television critic.

Military service

Tuck graduated from Pompton Lakes High School in 1960. He enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

and was trained at

Keesler Air Force Base Keesler Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Biloxi, a city along the Gulf Coast in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler Jr., a Mississippi nati ...

in Biloxi, Mississippi. Assigned to Otis Air Force Base on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

from 1961 to 1964, he repaired airborne computers on Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star radar planes.

Early career in New York

Upon leaving the service, Tuck drifted from job to job for several years, before finding his love for metal sculpting. In

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, he took a part-time job with Hans Van deBovenkamp, an internationally recognized metal sculptor. They worked in an old horse stable on West 10th street. Travis Tuck spent four years developing his skills alongside Van De Bovenkamp, before founding his own small business on 28th Street.

Weather vanes on Martha's Vineyard

Tuck moved to the

in 1970 with Merrily Glasser-Boyd, his first wife. In the beginning, odd jobs as carpenter, tour guide and bartender were needed to supplement his artistic income. His break came in 1974 when an upstart director named

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

arrived to film a movie about a shark. The artist saw an opportunity. Tuck's first weathervane, a fierce shark, served as a prop for the blockbuster movie “

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

”. Since that time, hundreds of evocative figures – some drawn from nature, many from contemporary life – were commissioned by private owners and businesses. Mr. Tuck's weather vanes, which could draw between $10,000 and $100,000, perch on houses and buildings in 40 states and 13 countries. On Martha's Vineyard, the whale ship Perry stands above the Town Hall in Edgartown, a golden quill drifts over the offices of the

Vineyard Gazette The ''Vineyard Gazette'' is one of two paid circulation newspapers on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Founded in 1846, it also circulates in many other states and countries to seasonal residents of the resort island. History The ''Gazette'' was f ...

. There is a Travis Tuck cow spinning over the Agricultural Society and as osprey flying above the local hospital. Many residents have commissioned ships and birds, golden retrievers and fish to mark their houses. Tuck handcrafted one-of-a-kind weather vanes, spending many hours in discussions with clients or researching the right details. Then he maps the design, cutting it from copper, shaping it with heat and cold. He finishes with repoussé, hammering the metal into shape with wooden forms. “My technique is entirely freehand”, he once explained. “There is never a mold. Each is an entirely new sculpture, each hammer blow part of the creative process." Among his most famous works are a four-foot velociraptor from “

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

” on the stable at Steven Spielberg's East Hampton estate, a seal of the United States for NJ Senator Frank Lautenberg and a massive 10 ft. 2,000 pound Nittany Lion weathervane above Penn State's Beaver Stadium. Tuck also presented a sculpture to visiting President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

during his stay on the Vineyard in 1994. Portraits appeared in The

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, The

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

and

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast, which also publishes internati ...

. Television programs featured him on national television. Once described by

Condé Nast Traveler ''Condé Nast Traveler'' is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. The magazine has won 25 National Magazine Awards. The Condé Nast unit of Advance Publications purchased ''Signature'', a magazine for Diners Club memb ...

as "America's premier weathervane maker", he was known internationally. His works were exhibited in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Public service

Tuck was known for his kindly appearance. While dressed for making weather vanes, he resembled a European clockmaker with his black and white moustache and worn leather apron. He was an avid sailor who crewed on wooden sailboats in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. He visited Europe 40 times, including one trip by rail from

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in 1984. A year later, he bought a BMW touring motorcycle in Germany so he could ride behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

through East Germany,

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, and the former

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Privately, Mr. Tuck was deeply rooted in the fabric of his local community. He was a retired firefighter and emergency medical technician and he served on the West Tisbury finance committee, the Arts Council and as active member of the Barnacle Club and the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

. He was also a founding member of “ Veterans & Reservists to End the War in Vietnam”. "I have been very lucky. I have had great friends, great lovers and great relationships," he once said.

Tuck & Holand

Tuck had many assistants over the years, but it was his four-year working relationship with Anthony Holand that started him thinking about a successor. In 2002, they joined in partnership to form Tuck & Holand. Anthony's experience and natural ability made him a logical choice as partner. Mr. Tuck died after a two-year battle with lung cancer at his home-studio in Vineyard Haven, MA. He was survived by his son, Nelson Tuck, his brother, Jay Tuck, and his fiancée, Kathryn Roessel. He leaves three former wives: Merrily Glasser-Boyd, Eva Kaestlin (Nelson's mother) and Eleanor Tuck.Associated Press Obituary, http://www.boston.com/news/daily/20/tuck.htm

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuck, Travis 1943 births 2002 deaths People from Brooklyn 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors People from Pompton Lakes, New Jersey People from Tisbury, Massachusetts Pompton Lakes High School alumni United States Air Force airmen