Self-preservation
story by Casey Toth
With the patience of a crouching tiger and the perseverance of a migrating bird, Velma Smith spends her days creating taxidermy replicas of wild animals: preserving them for generations to come.
For 36 of her 62 years, she has worked in her shop, located only steps from her home in McLean County. Smith’s Wildlife Artistry is known for its high-quality work and steep prices. Projects backed up 14 to 16 months reflect a client’s willingness to wait for the best.
In a span of 10 months, Velma worked every day, taking only five or six for vacation.
“She works too much,” said her daughter DeLena Lipscomb.
Velma’s work ethic offers a common thread throughout her life. She’s comfortable in her skin.
Seven times she refused her husband Earl’s proposal because she wanted to focus on her career in engineering. She worked right out of high school doing engineering for telephone and railroad companies, building prototypes and working for companies such as NCR Corp., formerly National Cash Register.
But she found office work as confining as a lizard’s skin – and she won’t work on reptiles.
So after moving from California to Kentucky to live with Earl’s aging father, she found herself overqualified for employment in the small, rural town. She rediscovered creative passion after receiving a deer mount of sub-par quality. She spent hours in the library and taught herself how to redo it.
“They messed up the wrong person’s thing,” she said.
Velma knows her profession may look odd to an outsider and hopes people understand her intentions.
Taxidermy can be viewed as a selfish art, but she says, “If these things are not preserved for our kids, they won’t know. It’s just like the saber-toothed cat. Nobody knows what it really looked like. They just think they know. It’s because none of them were ever preserved.”
But the beauty and sensitivity of wildlife does not escape her.
“It’s not about killing things,” Velma said. “It’s about the peace and serenity, I suppose.”
Taxidermist Velma Smith prepares an albino doe for mounting to a stand. At Smith's Wildlife Artistry in Calhoun, it takes 12 to 14 months for the client to recieve the finished product. She pays close attention to detail, and her prices reflect her high-quality work. This doe cost the elementary school teacher who shot it $1,800. A client once told her, "The animals looks better now than when I killed it!" she said.
Taxidermist Velma Smith matches thread with the hide of an albino doe at Smith's Wildlife Artistry in Calhoun. Velma is known for attention to detail. Clients will wait up to 24 months to recieve finished products.
Deer mannequins line the walls of Velma Smith's taixdermy shop, Smith's Wildlife Artistry, in Calhoun. The plastic busts get covered with hides of prized does and bucks.
A pile of glass bobcat eyes litter taxidermist Velma Smith's cluttered workspace. Pliers, clay, screws, rods and saws add to the chaos. Velma makes high-quality mounts for which clients pay a high price and wait patiently.
Taxidermist Velma Smith peruses a pet calendar she recieved in the mail with some odor-reducing spray for her cat Fire's litter box. Fire lives in Velma's taxidermy shop, Smith's Wildlife Artistry in Calhoun.
Taxidermist Velma Smith shows her grandson, Cameron Lipscomb, 8, the albino doe she's working on in her shop in Calhoun., Ky. Cameron doesn't hide his aversion to dead animals.
Velma Smith, a taxidermist in Calhoun, prepares for her day under the supervision of a Bengal tiger. The tiger's previous owner donated the pelt to Velma. Despite many generous offers, she refuses to sell the mount because of its staus as an endangered species.