Doggie and Decoys
By Heather Gaghan

Traveling has always been a part of our featured artist, Laura DeNardo’s life. In 1975, she moved from Pittsburgh to Canton, a historic waterfront neighborhood outside Baltimore that reminded Laura of her hometown in Pittsburgh. Laura attended Slippery Rock State College as an Education and Art major. While attending college she worked on the yearbook as a staff photographer which started her career in taking pictures.





DeNardo’s images are haunting in black and white and sometimes sepia tones. Her pictures are, at first glance stark, but the viewer is quickly captured by the age-old romantic lure of the waves caressing the bow and stern of the ships resting on the water. Every picture is taken using 35mm film, developed and individually darkroom printed with no computer enhancement of any kind.



















Laura finds artistic inspiration in all the places she travels, but the place she calls home is especially magnetic along the Chesapeake Bay. The artist recalls passing by the bay area in the fall and seeing the shoreline dotted with hunters sitting in their duck blinds enjoying the sportsmanship and comradery that comes with duck hunting. As with all hunters, the men DeNardo sees are often accompanied by their ever-faithful companions and lovers of the water- their Labrador Retrievers.


















Historically, duck hunters not only brought their Labs, but made sure they had decoys to lure the waterfowl within shooting range. Today, decoys are luring more people than ducks. The art of decoy making has been a treasured part of the Chesapeake Bay culture and the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum “houses one of the finest collections of working and decorative Chesapeake Bay decoys ever assembled.”

Laura is active on the Board of Directors of the Museum in Maryland. It was during her time serving on the Board when the picture of the Labrador and decoy was created. Laura says most of her images are created for poster art and then are scaled down for note cards, wrapping paper, tissue paper, and even china.

The name Duckblind came about after one of her many views along the Chesapeake shoreline. For those of us who are not familiar with the world of duck hunting, a duck blind is a hideout of various shapes, sizes, and materials that hides a hunter and his companions- human and dog- from the duck’s sight. The idea is more complex in design, but as straightforward as a traditional decoy.

Many of the decoys on Laura DeNardo’s work come from collaborations with the master carvers she has met through the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum. Her simple and elegant black and white images are available in many printed formats including Christmas cards, wrapping paper and tissue paper. Laura’s work can be seen at her studio and gallery at 3401 Elliott Street in Canton, Maryland or online at www.duckblind.com., and Laura DeNardo Photography- www.lauradenardo.com.

“I had the pleasure of meeting Laura at the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, SC. Right away I knew that I wanted a print for myself and asked her if we could carry her beautiful cards and prints in our store. I highly recommend checking her event’s calendar and meeting her in person.” - Laura Barmore