David Brownlee has been blessed with an infinite amount of patience, which may explain why the retired medical x-ray instructor-turned-artist has stayed with scrimshaw as his principle art form.

     Scrimshaw is the art of etching on some hard material such as bone, antler, ivory or shell. David uses, almost exclusively, the ivory of old piano keys as his medium of choice. It requires a great deal of concentration and creativity to produce exquisitely detailed works of David's calibre. Most of his art depicts the flora and fauna of Manitoba, but there are also memories of the past, such as log barns, windmills and elevators. He has also been commissioned on many occasions to depict the summer cottages of friends into framed scrimshaw pictures.

     David's secondary art form is carving. For 20 years, he has been carving songbirds, bears and beavers from wood, but since retiring, he has branched out into carving bone and antler as well. Whales, Maori fishhooks and dolphins are some of the subjects of his creative carvings, fashioned into jewellery or matted and framed. David was one of four Winnipeg artists featured in the March/April edition of Where magazine. His work may be found in several gift shops and in Frame of Mind Gallery.

5525 Rannock Avenue, Winnipeg, MB. R3R 0N3
Tel: (204) 832-4230
E-mail: uplandent@shaw.ca