About Kenny Jewell
Bird Carver
Kenny Jewell has been carving for over 35 years and his love of birds and nature is evident in each one of his pieces. His decision to take Ornithology as one of his electives in College was just the beginning. His Professor, Dr. Robert Johnson took him "under his wing" sorta speak where he learned a great deal about Ecology and Wildlife Mgt. Since then, his interest and love for our feathered friends has grown into a truly life-long passion.
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"Carving" his birding experiences seemed to be a natural step for him after he visited a decoy show in Amityville, NY. He watched the carvers in the competitions at the show and got caught up in the excitement of creating birds out of wood.
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Since then he has competed in several shows including the World Show in Ocean City, MD; the Toms River Show; the New England Competition as well as local art exhibitions. In each one of these shows he has been awarded several ribbons including "Best in Show" in his category.
Even though he finds competition a lot of fun, it's also important that he maintains his own level of quality in his carvings and shares his creativity and love of birds with others! Each bird Kenny carves, captures the spirit and personality of the birds that he has observed in their natural environment.
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Kenny is currently taking on commissioned assignments for celebrations of special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and holidays!
A Special Note from the Artist: Please take the time to review some of the birds l've carved which are featured on this web site. If your favorite bird isn't in the gallery or if you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Kenny
Kenny's Banjo and Bluegrass
Besides Wood Carving, his other love is acoustic music and his main instrument is the 5 String Banjo. He performs Bluegrass, Celtic, as well as other genres of music.
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The heart of this love stems from when his Dad played Kingston Trio Albums and he heard Dave Guard's banjo solo on the MTA. The first time he saw anybody play the banjo was when he watched Larry McNeely on the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour one Sunday night back in 1970.
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Kenny was hooked and ditched the electric guitar for any information on the Banjo, especially Scruggs and Bluegrass music. He learned a couple of fiddle tunes but then sought help from banjo great, Marty Cutler. Marty set him on the straight and narrow. After a couple of years with Marty he then took lessons from Tony Trischka. Kenny's been in several bands including the "Pep Boys", and "Out of the Blue" on LI, and played for awhile in the Boston area as well. His current local band "Curbside Pickup" plays around in the Jersey Shore.
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He also currently teaches banjo privately giving back to his banjo students the experience and knowledge he has gathered over the years. "Teaching is a two way street and an activity which I get just as much of enjoyment out of as my students hopefully do!"
NOTE: If you are looking to take Banjo lessons, you can contact him through this site!