Jeff Krete, a resident of Ontario, Canada is a sculpture artist with life long interests in artistic expression, nature and historic aircraft. Jeff skillfully integrates these varied interests into a unique approach to rendering his primary wood sculpture subjects. With extensive training and skill development in wood carving techniques, detailed modeling processes and maquette building, Jeff’s 25 years of work has evolved into the creation of technically challenging original wood sculpture. Inspired by the rich cultural heritage of antique decoy carvers in the Great Lakes region, Jeff began a mentorship with contemporary master carvers in the early 1980’s. He was quickly encouraged to find his own style. Moving beyond basic skills acquired in early years, Jeff found great joy in his work as he began to blend his life interests into his work. According to Jeff “the most elusive skill is in capturing the essence of your subject. It is the proper interpretation of shapes from reference sources and this skill is the key to the successful rendering of your subject”. Accuracy and detail are the challenge and focus of Jeff’s approach in all of his carved subjects”.

Jeff’s passion for aviation began early on in his life and includes: flying private aircraft, past Canadian Forces military service, collecting books, acquiring technical drawings and manuals, historical photographs, and travels to many air museum collections and aviation displays. His inspiration for completing aircraft sculpture pieces stems from an early interest in the aircraft of World War II. “I was fascinated by the aircraft, the veterans, and the adventures of those individuals who were undertaking authentic warbird restorations in the mid 1970’s”. Warbirds were literally being dug up and pulled from the world’s oceans, deserts, jungles and mountain tops. Travelling and seeing the variety of flying warbirds in the early 1980’s was inspirational for Jeff. Having had the opportunity to meet a number of notable wartime pilots and other veterans were indelible moments that inspired him years later to begin creating his aircraft sculpture designs.

Jeff is recognized in the world’s wildfowl sculpture community as a Master Wildfowl Carver and creator of unique flying sculpture subjects. Since 1984, organizations in Canada and the United States have rewarded Jeff with over 200 awards for his original sculpture. Jeff became a “Master Wildfowl Carver” in 2005. In 2007 and 2008, Jeff received consecutive “World Champion” honours from the Ward Foundation, Salisbury Maryland, USA for wildfowl sculpture pieces. Jeff’s original work has been exhibited at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury, Maryland, USA; the Burdette Wildlife Gallery, Ontario, Canada; and his wildfowl and aviation pieces reside in numerous private collections around the world.

Jeff is a member of the Artists for Conservation, the Canadian Aviation Artists Association and is a volunteer and artist supporter of the Vintage Wings of Canada, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.

“Legendary Wings” is a unique collection of original and limited edition bronze aircraft sculpture. This series of aviation sculpture pays homage to the world’s historically significant aircraft and portrays each in a manner that best profiles the esthetics of the aircraft design and situation depicted. Jeff’s accurate and detailed aviation sculpture is a highly desirable and unique form of original and limited edition bronze artwork.

“I wish to visually acknowledge the significance of these historical aircraft and to inspire a broader appreciation for the men and women who built, flew and maintained these aircraft. I hope you will enjoy these pieces as much as I have creating them”.