DATE: Sunday, August 10, 1997               TAG: 9708100079

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: POINT HARBOR                      LENGTH:   79 lines

MINIATURE WATERFOWL TALL TASK, CARVER FINDS E.C. GIBBS JR. SANDS AND PAINTS HIS BIRDS SO THAT THEY HAVE AN ALMOST 3-D SHINE

E.C. Gibbs Jr. owes his success as a wildfowl carver to a loving wife - and a massive heart attack.

Gibbs immersed himself in his plumbing and heating business with little time for other things until the day in 1983 when part of his heart literally died. The doctor ordered him to quit working.

``When I had to give up my work, I didn't care about anything,'' said Gibbs, a lifelong resident of Currituck County. ``But my wife kept pushing, telling me `You've got to get out of this slump.' ''

Gibbs' late wife, Janet, bought him a bird identification book. It sat on a shelf.

She bought him a hand-held electric wood-shaping tool. It remained in the box.

She bought a carved Canada goose from Watermark, hoping to inspire him. It gathered dust.

Finally, four years after his heart attack, Gibbs began building doll houses for the Outer Banks gift shop where his wife worked. At about the same time, a neighbor who carved life-size wildfowl began asking him to take his wood scraps and carve miniatures. After two more years of prodding, Gibbs consented.

``I liked it so much, I stopped building doll houses,'' Gibbs said. He has carved 721 birds of 30 different species and has recorded every one in a ledger.

Gibbs, 71, never hunted like most wildfowl carvers. He didn't even think much about birds and such things. Work was always on his mind. But he was a cabinetmaker once, and working with wood to make birds was a relatively easy transition.

In September 1989, he pulled the bird guide off the shelf, removed the electric carving tool from its box and dusted off the carved Canada goose. Using his wife's gifts, which he once thought were useless, he created authentic designs and carved and painted them with beautiful results.

Gibbs is lean from top to bottom except for his huge hands, muscled from more than 30 years of handling wrenches and pipes. Too many years of crawling under houses wore out the cartilage in his knees. When he sets up for the half-dozen or so art shows a year, he limps back and carries his birds one cardboard box at a time.

Gibbs' work has appeared in only two shows this year. He slowed down when his wife became ill with cancer a couple of years ago. Janet died 11 months ago, perhaps killing another part of his heart that will not show up in an X-ray.

``It's not as much fun anymore,'' he said.

Last week, he was in Elizabeth City preparing for a show of his work at the Pasquotank Arts Gallery on Main Street.

Many of his carvings sat on a table in the center of the gallery. Two long-necked blue herons stood on driftwood, each about to swallow a tiny rainbow trout. Pelicans, mallards, swans and Canada geese were part of the assembly. His carvings, called miniatures, are usually about 6 inches long. Some, such as the herons, are much larger.

Gibbs is a friendly man, easy to talk to, but he is very independent about his creations.

He takes no order unless it's months in advance. He sells only what he chooses to make. He does not enter contests and is not part of any carving association. Even his style is different.

Gibbs sands and paints his birds several times, giving them a deep, almost three-dimensional shine not often seen in wild-bird carvings.

``A lot of people said I wouldn't sell them like that,'' Gibbs said. ``That's the way I want them. If they sell, all right. If they don't, all right.''

They do. He can hardly make enough of the more popular models such as ospreys, canvasbacks, pelicans and mallards. He said he plans to carve his first bald eagle soon.

``It's just to have something to do and make a few dollars at the same time,'' Gibbs said.

Gibbs' work will be on display and for sale at the Pasquotank Arts Gallery until Aug. 30. He also will show at the Ramada Inn in Nags Head Aug. 30 and 31. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by WILLIAM P. CANNON, The Virginian-Pilot

E.C. Gibbs and a selection of his birds...

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