Artists in Residence: Firearms Engravers
During your visit to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, spend some time with firearms engravers Jim Blair, Gordon Alcorn, Mary Dyk, Marianne Kelley, and Dean Philbrick, all members of the Firearms Engraving Guild of America. They will demonstrate their craft and chat with visitors near the entrance to our Cody Firearms Museum from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
Jim Blair began hand engraving in 1978. He is a master engraver, a past vice president in the Firearms Engravers Guild of America, and a member of the American Custom Gunmakers Guild. He is recognized by the Colt Company as a Master Engraver. Although mainly self-taught, he gives credit to several engravers that have matured this craft into an art. An accomplished engraver in all aspects of the field, he prefers to work on custom guns, knives, and jewelry, but also does engraved prints and prints them on his own press.
Gordon Alcorn came from a background of drawing and woodcarving, and began engraving in 2008. Mostly studying books and DVDs, he is primarily self-taught and was greatly helped along with a week of study with engraver Ray Cover. In 2014, Gordon presented his work at the Firearms Engravers Guild of America convention and attained the title of Master Engraver. He currently works from his home studio, and his back-log is about two years.
Mary Dyk dates her interest in engraving to 2005. She first started doing gun stock carving, but soon became interested in the metal engraving on guns. As a pen-and-ink artist, Mary loved the fine detail of gun engraving designs. She found the GRS Training Center in Emporia, Kansas, which manufactures engraving tools. She found that pneumatic engraving machines made the learning process a lot faster. She started engraving jewelry (so she wouldn’t ruin a firearm). Mary has taken at least 25 week-long classes and was pleased to be able to attend three Grand Masters classes with Master Engravers Alain Lovenberg and Michael Dubber.
Marianne Kelley began her engraving journey after finding GRS at the Dallas Safari Club in 2015. She signed up for her first basic class that summer. She first thought she would engrave knife bolsters and never imagined she would engrave guns. She attended a class on the “Henry Receiver” taught by Rex Pedersen at GRS in 2016, and then the “Start to Finish Firearm” class in 2017. Now retired from her full-time job as a veterinarian, she has more time to study the art of engraving. In 2018, Marianne joined Lady SharpShooters. During her time with the group, she has studied under Rex Pederson, Diane Scalese, Layne Zuelke, Mike Dubber, and Sam Alfano. In 2019, she was nominated to participate in the Bobby Tyler Engraving Extravaganza and was chosen as one of the 10 finalists to engrave a Colt SAA. She won the competition in 2021.
Dean Philbrick began his engraving career fifty years ago under the direction of Master Engraver J.T. Modloff, and has been fortunate to study under five World Master Engravers through the years. Dean has worked in many fields throughout his career, including as a sign business owner, Fire Chief, EMS Director, and Emergency Medical Technician. He retired from the Fire Service eight years ago and has since worked full time as a Master Firearms Engraver. He received his Master Engraver Certificate from the Firearm’s Engravers Guild of America in 2017.
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