Lures are generally popularized by their ability to catch fish, however sculptor Geoff Feder, from New York, accentuates on the tackle’s splendor. He has been making larger-than-life lures for 20 years. We caught up with him at his visiting booth on Stock Island Marina last week and asked him a few questions.
Q: How did you first get involved with your artwork?
A: I was a sculptor and art major in college and one of the projects was to take something small and make it big. At the time I was doing a ton of fishing and buying a bunch of lures and I loved them as objects. That was the first time I ever made the giant version of a fishing lure. People liked it and I realized there was a market.
Q: What is your process for crafting them?
A: I take wood, carve it and cut the shapes out. For some, I put together hardware to make them articulated. Then, I paint them myself and finish them. Sometimes I put glass eyes in. I like to make them in batches of 10 because you see how they relate together like lures in a tackle box.
Q: Are your lures similar to actual tackle?
A: I really don’t base them off any particular type. A couple of them are very similar color-wise, but I try to make them about each one and how they relate to the others. The most important thing for my work is contrasting colors.
Q: Has anyone asked you to make a giant lure for fishing purposes?
A: No, but for the past few years people have come up to me at my booth and asked “What would you catch with that?” Obviously there is no answer, but I recently told someone that a friend of mine lost a pack of elephants and we dragged a lure behind the boat to bring them ashore.
Q: The hooks look pretty sharp on your sculptures, have you ever been cut?
A: Yes. Once I was carrying 10 lures by the hooks and when I put them down, one of them went in my wrist. I got cut pretty bad and was bleeding a lot. I used to put barbs on them but when I moved them around they got caught on tablecloths and curtains. It was unnecessary; they are not used for killing.
Feder also has works in steel, crafts furniture, and dabbles in all realms of the sculpture world. His website is geofffeder.com. Follow him on Instagram at #geofffeder or send him an email at geofffeder@gmail.com.
