Busacca Gallery

Carved in the arts and craft folk art style By the contemporary artist Spencer Tinkham / 24" Abstract Flounder / This flounder is made out of pier planks that were salvaged from the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The planks were found close to First Landing State Park, where the settlers of the Virginia Company first made landfall before traveling farther west to create the first permanent North American settlement in Jamestown. The fish is painted in oils that are mixed from scratch using raw pigment powders.

At the age of eight, Spencer Tinkham (b. 1992) discovered the exhilaration that few people achieve in a lifetime. A simple pocketknife, given to him by his grandfather, launched both his passion for creating and his future as an artist. Enthralled by the rich biodiversity that inhabited the water’s edge in Norfolk, Virginia, Spencer’s love for nature was also sparked early on. He realized that through sculpture, he could create lasting mementos of fleeting encounters. Spencer sculpted many readily available household materials- mostly soap bars and wood scraps. His tools were limited and primitive- a pocketknife, a hacksaw, and a pencil. Before Spencer graduated high school, he had already twice-won the Danner Frazer Youth Decorative Wildfowl World Championship. Spencer has no formal art training and is entirely self-taught. He continues to use primitive tools, which seldom connect to electricity. Spencer mixes his oil paints from pigment powders. Most of his sculptures are still made out of found materials and are wildlife focused. Spencer’s sculptures draw influence from literature, folk art, Modern art, and contemporary art. Spencer is intrigued by the repetition of human behavior over history and uses animal sculpture to help people ponder their impact on the environment and each other. Most recently, Spencer was inducted into the National Sculpture Society as an Associate Member. “To Kill a Mockingbird” was juried into the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson “Birds in Art 2019” museum exhibition. He has work in the Dollar Tree, Inc. corporate art collection, and has sent his sculptures to many private art collections worldwide.