Local Sculptor's Talent
Brings Unseen
Sea Life To The Surface
? ?? ? ? ?
HY LYNN CARLSON
Duane Schilz is a different
kind o'' sculptor. He brings
to those who view his work
a pail of the world most people are
aware of. but almost none have
seen.
Growing up among seashells and
shell enthusiasts, he taught himself
to sculpt models of the thousands
of species which inhabit the sea ?
not the shells, but th^ animals
which inhabit them.
Painstakingly interpreted from
drawings in textbooks and other
published sources, Schilz's sculp
tures range from the tiny nudi
branks and sea slugs to large octopi
and squid. They are colorful and
precise, reflecting the luminescence
which the sea creatures exhibit in
the deep, but which they lose out of
their natural habitat.
It all comes pretty naturally for
the Shallotte resident. His grand
mother. Zyda Kibler, is a longtime
collector, dealer and true expert in
shells, from the exotic to the rare to
the simply beautiful. Schilz grew
up "hanging around" the shell mu
seum his grandmother operated in
Virginia Beach.
"1 was there several hours a day.
1 had clay, and I was always mak
ing dinosaurs and other animals. It
was a way to kill time. My interests
changed, but 1 kept up w ith it over
the years."
It's a unique talent ? an art. a
craft, and a science which few
have pursued, especially at his
young age. His work has been
bought for museums in Australia,
Japan, Germany and Belgium as
well as right here at home, in the
Museum of Coastal Carolina at
Ocean Isle Beach.
}
" There 's a lot to
be learned from
small things
about the way
all nature
works. "
? Duane Schilz
His sculptures also appear in
Atlanta's exciting new Fembank
Museum of Natural History, with
its "Walk Through Time in Geor
gia" exhibit and 14 galleries inter
preting the state's landscape and
animal life, including its coastal
shoreline.
Schilz's sculpture of a scotch
bonnet ? the state shell of North
Carolina ? was purchased as a spe
cial gift to Emperor Hirohito of
Japan shortly before the ruler's
death. "As far as 1 know, it got to
him," Schilz says.
"Marine life just can't be pre
served," he explains, so exacting
reproductions like his are the only
means of bringing the shapes and
brilliant colors of the species to life
for humans.
"Most shells are nocturnal," he
adds. "They're not real active un
less they're feeding. ! try to illus
trate what the animal looks like at
its best."
To do this, he has used all types
of media, including "every type of
clay known," to plastic, to paper
maiche to the epoxy-filled mold he
used for a squid he sculpted for the
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HIIAXir C S-liii-r STAFF PHOTO BY IYNN CARLSON
St HI LZ poses over a case of shells, including some of his sculptures, in his grandmother's
Shallotte home.
Fembank Museum.
The modest Schilz has a one
woman cheering section in his
grandmother. Despite major sur
gery and a long recuperative peri
od, Kihler has endless font of en
thusiasm for her grandson's talent.
Case upon case, box upon box
and drawer upon drawer in Kibler's
sprawling Shallotte home hold not
only hundreds of thousands of
shells, but her grandson's work
from his youth to the present.
She'd like to see him promote
his talent a little more vigorously.
Schilz, who is unfailingly polite
and unassuming, says he "doesn't
have the ego it takes" to thrive
commercially in some art circles.
It is only in recent years that he
has begun to talk to other artists
outside his field about painting
techniques and how different ef
fects can be achieved.
1 le has no formal art training and
says he can't paint or draw, though
he does do sketches he "wouldn't
show anybody."
But he knows more about the
creatures he sculpts than many biol
ogists would, thanks to his lifelong
exposure to people who love and
deeply respect all nature, but espe
cially the undersea world.
"I'm thankful 1 grew up with
this," he says, adding that he hasn't
consistently pursued his craft in the
past, but plans to as he grows older.
"When I was younger, (his was;
keeping me inside, and I wanted to
get out and see my friends and be
part of the world again ? to take up
a 9-to-5 job."
With maturity, though, comes the
new realization that a unique talent
like his is too good an opportunity
to waste. "My work has been all
over the world, but 1 haven't," he
says. Keeping the sculptures going
is the most logical way to remedy
that.
"I'm thankful I grew up with
this ? in the museum, being under
foot there. 1 learned to appreciate
nature. There's a lot to be learned
from small things about the way all
nature works."
^ 1
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