The Taxidermy Hall of Fame is proud to introduce the current nominees for the class of 2021. The final inductees will be announced during the Saturday night Awards Banquet at the Texas Taxidermy Association Convention in Killeen, Texas on June 26, 2021. The induction ceremony will held on July 24, 2021 during the National Taxidermists Association convention in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The seven current nominees are as follows:
Sinclair Clark
Terence Coffin-Grey
Harry Paulson
Stefan Savides
Rodney Schreurs
Herman H. ter Meer
Jan Van Hoesen
Sinclair Clark
Date of Birth: January 31, 1902
Place of Birth: Barbados, West Indies
Date of Death: May 14, 1999
Place of Death: Bronx, New York
Sinclair Nathaniel Clark was a legendary taxidermy tanner, known throughout that industry for his expertise in tanning animal skins to give them the suppleness that taxidermists require to create lifelike, long-lasting displays. Because tanning is a behind-the-scenes operation of taxidermy, tanners are seldom known outside the industry. Clark’s work is on view in museums all over the world; his most famous work is “Henry,” the African Bush elephant which has been displayed in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. since 1959. He also tanned the skin of the famous racehorse Phar Lap, which has been on permanent display in the Museums Victoria in Melbourne, Australia since January 1933.
Some years after his 1924 emigration from Barbados to the United States through New York City’s Ellis Island, Sinclair Clark learned tanning from taxidermist James L. Clark (no relation)–who himself had learned from Carl Akeley, considered to be the “father of modern taxidermy.” Akeley, whom Sinclair Clark had met his very first week of work at James L. Clark’s taxidermy studio, had recently proposed that the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) build a Hall of African Mammals, and James Clark had begun working with Akeley on that project. As a result, it was Sinclair Clark who tanned the skins of the majority of the large mammals exhibited in the over 29 habitat dioramas of that hall, as well as of the original four of the herd of eight African elephants that comprise the hall’s main exhibit.
An independent contractor, during his career Sinclair Clark worked with noted taxidermists, including Louis Paul Jonas of the world-famous Jonas Bros. Taxidermy Studio, and at the American Museum of Natural History, where his tanning methods became the standard for all diorama animal exhibits. Clark later set up tanneries in other locations, but maintained his relationship with the Museum tannery over a long period of time.
Throughout his career, Sinclair Clark mentored other taxidermists and helped them set up their studios.
Terence Coffin-Grey
Date of Birth: July 19, 1926
Place of Birth: Republic of South Africa
Current Location: Humansdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Terence Coffin-Grey was born July 19, 1926, to South African pioneering stock in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. He keeps a hand written diary from 1940 to this day. Given his advanced age of 92 he is currently in good health. At an early age he, developed into an avid hunter, naturalist and taxidermist as he roamed the veld of the Eastern Cape with his twin and elder brother. When the boys turned 13, their father seeing their interest in making a ‘museum’ in their bedroom, bought them Practical Taxidermyby Montagu Browne, a British taxidermist. The boys skinned and mounted everything they collected from, birds and small mammals, to snakes, lizards and fish. Lack of funds prevented young Terence from attending university so he joined the Post Office as a telegraphist in 1943, although his heart’s ambition was to join a museum and travel Africa as a taxidermist/explorer like Carl E. Akeley.
In 1948 he married Yvonne Hefferon and at that time, Southern Rhodesia (Modern Day Zimbabwe) was welcoming immigrants so in 1950 the couple moved to Bulawayo. Soon Terence was mounting birds and mammals in their small dining room. An advertisement in the Bulawayo Chronicle for a museum taxidermist/technician caught Terence’s eye and when he applied, he impressed the Director of National Museums of Rhodesia, the great naturalist Dr. Reay H. N. Smithers (O.B.E.). Thus began Terence’s journey with The National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
Dr. Smithers tutored Terence and in 1961 gave him the enormous responsibility of assisting in the internal architecture of the new Natural History Museum in Bulawayo. There he created many large exhibits, the most spectacular of which was a giant walk-in habitat group which displays the Doddiburn elephant and full mounts of giraffe, eland, zebra, warthog, buffalo, waterbuck and a pride of lions on a zebra kill in the Lowveld Hall. In 1965, Terence went for additional training at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, under the tutelage of Otto Epping. There was also further training in Germany with Karlheinz Fuchs, an expedition to the Okavango delta of Botswana with H.R. H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and some time at the British Museum.
In 1952, Terence as a courtesy by the National Museum in Rhodesia to Rowland Ward of London , spent two months on an expedition where he prepared hides and skulls for transportation to London. A giant sable antelope, Hippotragus niger variani, (Varian’ts sable), a White-bearded gnu and a Black-faced impala were ultimately mounted by Gerald Best of Rowland Ward and donated to the British Museum from that collecting trip.
Later in 1958 Terence accompanied Dr Elliot Pinhey, entomologist, throughout all of West Africa. Following rivers, while Dr Pinhey was specialising in dragonflies and damselflies, Terence collected birds and small mammals. It was a gruelling three month trip by Land Rover going through Chirundu, Elizabethville (Lubumbashi), Goma on Lake Kivu, Stanleyville (Kisangani), Leopoldville (Kinshasa), over the Congo River, Brazzaville, on to French Equatorial Africa (Republic of Congo, Chad, CAR, Cameroon and Gabon), through British Cameroon to the town of Mamfe in French Cameroon. Here they stayed at the Palace the Fon of Bafut. Shortly afterwards Dr Pinhey became severely ill and at an American Presbyterian Medical Mission, found that Terence had a bad case of malaria. Dr Pinhey was flown home and Terence faced the long trip home alone and almost out of funds.
In 1962 Terence reunited with Dr Pinhey to the Congo via Lusaka to rescue a very important collection of Insectivora in the museum in Elizabethville, now Lubumbashi. The British High Commission in Elizabethville came to their rescue by meeting the National Museum Land Rover at the border and driving them to the rebel held Museum in their own vehicle. The rebels considering the insect collection to be ‘takati’, controlled by wizardry, did not damage any of the beautifully made cases. The collection is in the Transvaal Museum, now the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History. Later that same year, Terence was asked by Rhodesian National Parks to collect live white rhinos, which were safely driven 1200 miles. Terence was sought after to accompany the Denver Museum of Natural History when they came in 1969 to collect specimens in Southern Africa in the Kalahari, Okavango and Rhodesian bush.
Museum salaries have never been enough to comfortably live on so Terence started Taxidermy Enterprises with Yvonne in the 1960’s. Safari hunting was big business and Taxidermy Enterprises flourished. Terence worked at the National Museum until 1978 and it was about this time that he and Nico Van Rooyen founded the Taxidermy Association of Southern Africa (TASA). Their aim being to raise the standard of taxidermy in Southern Africa by holding workshops for interested taxidermists and they gave may years of service to this organization..
In the early 1980’s, Terence and Yvonne sold Taxidermy Enterprises and moved back to South Africa. Terence not yet 55 years old had already achieved so much in the field of taxidermy but he could not sit idle. With the able assistance of Terry Donnelly, one time National Museum artist, he created a museum for Fred Burchell, Mpongo Park, East London. On display are the birds and animals named by Burchell’s great-uncle W.J. Burchell. Terence married Terry, after Yvonne passed away. Around 1990, came the creation of a new taxidermy studio, Taxidermy Africa, in Humansdorp, Eastern Cape with daughter Cathy and son-in-law John Peacock. This offered the opportunity for Terence to pass on his wealth of knowledge to a new group of would be taxidermists.
Not content with the day to day teaching of new talent, Terence struck out on another new project once again ably assisted by Terry Donnelly. The sculpting of early hominid and prehistoric creatures for the McGregor Museum in Kimberley and the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. These had to be scientifically correct, problematic as there are many boffins out there and the internet can make life interesting. Using his years of experience in sculpting, moulding and casting Terence produced, to the scientist’s satisfaction, replicas of Australopithecus africanus, Homo erectus(Brokenhill man) and Aulacephalodon, 253 million years old.
Terence Coffin-Grey’s many talents and experiences which he has unselfishly shared throughout his life has certainly earned him the title of “Master Taxidermist.”
Harry Paulson
Date of Birth: September 14, 1940
Place of Birth: St. Paul, Minnesota
Current Location: Gilbert, Arizona
Harry Paulson had a great passion for the outdoors and wildlife when he was a teenager. He developed an interest in taxidermy while running a trap line in Minnesota during his high school days in the mid 1950’s. After purchasing lessons through a mail order course, sold by J. W. Elwood, he spent time with John Jaros, head taxidermist at the Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota campus. While attending classes at the University of Minnesota and Hamline University, Harry started up a small taxidermy business. When he left his university studies he took a job with the State Highway Department and worked as a Senior Tech III Engineer, but also started doing more and more taxidermy projects. In 1971, he decided to do taxidermy full time moving his family to Phoenix, Arizona, where he opened a new business called Mountain Valley Taxidermy Studio.
In 1977, Harry opened a taxidermy school, Mountain Valley School of Taxidermy. He hired some very talented taxidermists as part time instructors which soon made his school one of the most attractive venues in the USA to learn taxidermy. These instructors included Joe Kish, Bob Berry, Jim Hall, Gary Zehner, and Ono VanVeen, the business manager at Jonas Brothers Taxidermy in Denver, Colorado. These men were experts in their specific taxidermy fields. Harry successfully operated his school for over 23 years.
Also, in 1977, a taxidermy show and competition was formed by Joe Kish, called Taxidermy Review. Harry attended it with some of his students and became extremely active in assisting Kish with some future shows he produced. The Review held the first national taxidermy competition in over 80 years and many people from many states attended.
In the early 1970’s, Harry attended the formation meeting of the National Taxidermy Association in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where he became a charter member. He was elected to the NTA board of directors the next year and served off and on for a total of 13 years.
In 1981, as an NTA Director, he gathered a number of state taxidermists, and implemented the formation of the Arizona NTA Chapter. Around this same time Arizona was being confronted with Proposition 200 which was a bill introduced limiting hunting/fishing rights. Harry assisted in spearheading a challenge to this proposition and was surprised to receive a call from Ted Nugent stating “he was willing to do anything to help them with this cause”.
When the World Taxidermy Championships was formed by Bob Williamson in 1983 Harry worked as one of the administrators at that first show and worked in various capacities at future shows. When Larry Blomquist purchased the show in 1992 Harry served as the seminar chairman for many years.
In 1985, Harry purchased a larger taxidermy business, Sievers Taxidermy, and combined it with his other businesses. Another opportunity presented itself in 1992 when Harry purchased American Taxidermy Magazine from Tim Kelly.
Over the years Harry won numerous ribbons/awards from State, NTA, and World Shows. He stopped competing in 1984, but before doing so he won the Henry Inchumuk Small Mammal Award at the NTA summer convention. This meant a lot to Harry as Inchumuk was a very close friend.
Taxidermy has been a very large part of Harry Paulson’s life and for certain his biggest accomplishments for his peers was his many years of assisting, educating and helping others reach their goals.
Stefan Savides
Date of Birth: April 1, 1950
Place of Birth: Pomona, California
Current Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon
Stefan Savides is a true artist. This man was born with a total fascination of the natural world. Like many of us, we had early childhood interests in nature, however, in Stefan’s case, those interests were nurtured by his mother who taught him to embrace the teachings and beauty of nature. Stefan was totally influenced by this exceptional woman who saw his obsession with birds at an early age, and instead of exposing him to the Cub Scouts, she formed a junior Audubon club. She organized weekly meeting with eight-year-old Stefan and a handful of friends and taught them many things about birds.
When Stefan was twelve he managed to connect with a retired preacher who practiced taxidermy as a hobby who taught him a very basic beginning in bird taxidermy. From then he scoured the roadsides and beaches looking for dead birds to mount. By age sixteen, Stefan had built a reputation that had caught the attention of people in his hometown of Vacaville, California, and he was asked to teach a taxidermy class to adults through a city night-school program. It ran for a two-year period and numbered up to fifty students. By this time he had also built a thriving clientele base and was looking to expand.
When Stefan graduated from high school, he collected his tools and packed everything he owned into a Volkswagen and headed north to the Klamath Basin, at the border of California and Oregon and one of the largest waterfowl staging areas in the country, and he set up shop in a wild duck processing plant. From that day forward he was swamped with work!
He constantly wanted to learn more so he attended his first taxidermy show, the World Taxidermy Championships in 1985. He came away from that show with a Second in World Upland Gamebird, Second in World “Other” Bird, and Third in World Waterfowl. It was then that he set the personal goal to be asked to judge that show someday. That someday happened very soon and he judged the World Championships for two decades running.
During this period he created one of the most complete lines of anatomically correct bird forms for Research Mannikins. He started conducting avian workshops in his studio as well as across the country. He has judged just about every state taxidermy show in the United States, as well as competitions at the National Taxidermists Association, Canadian Taxidermy Association, International Guild of Taxidermists, Scandinavian Taxidermy Association, and New Zealand Taxidermy Association. Stefan was also a prolific writer and wrote many articles for Breakthrough magazine on everything from how-to to judging and artistic composition.
His taxidermy expertise caught the eye of collectors from across the country. This afforded him to travel around the globe caring for bird trophies in the field. This included a number of trips to Africa with Mr. and Mrs. Dick Cabela. He subsequently spent a ten-year period working on integrating hundreds of bird mounts into the 53,000-square-foot dream home of the Cabelas. This project also included numerous bronze fixtures that enhanced the project as well.
Many years ago Stefan had the vision that if he wanted to leave a lasting mark on the world of wildlife art it would be best to do it in bronze, and fifteen years ago he embarked on this second and new venture of his life. Taxidermy brought him to sculpting bronzes, and before leaving taxidermy as his main profession, he had a tremendous impact of thousands of today’s waterfowl taxidermists.
He is now represented by numerous prominent galleries across the country and his work has found its way into public and private collections belonging to the Cabelas; Johnny Morris, founder and owner of Bass Pro shops, and the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library.
It would be easy to say that not only has Stefan given his life to taxidermy, but also his generous gift of knowledge has inspired countless others to push forward and explore their own talents in an art form that was for so many years a secretive trade.
It is the rare and blessed few that are born into this world with a passion that was not to be interrupted by the complexity of the modern day we live in. He has embraced a total connection to the beauty and teachings of nature, which has guided his choices at each crossroad he’s encountered. The common thread, which binds his life, are birds and his work with birds from around the world embodies the fruit of that journey. Stefan Savides belongs in the Taxidermy Hall of Fame.
Rodney Schreurs
Nominee: Rodney W. Schreurs
Date of birth: December 28, 1954
Place of birth: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Current Location: Cedar Gove, Wisconsin
Rodney Schreurs was born in 1954 into a family of six children in the city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. His father was an avid hunter and even as a young boy, Rodney shared his father’s affinity for hunting and the outdoors. From a young age, he exhibited a natural talent for art and spent many hours studying and sketching wildlife. This fascination with the natural world developed into a passion for taxidermy. Like many budding taxidermists of the time, his training began with the Northwest School of Taxidermy Correspondence Course at age twelve after he split the cost of the course with a friend. Over the years, Rodney practiced taxidermy and his skills continued to develop and improve. It was always his intention that taxidermy be a means to express himself and preserve the memories from his time afield.
In the early 1980s, he attended the Milwaukee Sports Show with his wife, Linda, which was being held in conjunction with the Wisconsin State Taxidermy Championships. He was so inspired by the work at the show that it motivated him to compete himself. He worked his way up through the ranks and was soon competing at the Master’s Division. He decided to enter his first World Taxidermy Championships in 1997. As he debated what to work on for the show he recalled, in awe, some of the beautiful specimens he had seen displayed at past competitions. Realizing that he didn’t have access to anything similarly beautiful or exotic, he decided to take a risk by picking a lesser admired member of the animal kingdom and try to get it noticed. The subject for his first World Show piece would be an Opossum.
Rodney also noticed what seemed to be an underdeveloped aspect of taxidermy in competition pieces, convincing and realistic open mouth work. He had been perfecting his mouth work skills, but had yet to compete using the techniques he was developing. He decided to take an even greater risk and display the Opossum with an ultra-realistic open mouth in the process of raiding a duck nest.
After countless hours working on his piece, his gamble paid off tremendously. He won his first two gold medallions at the 1997 World Championships, Best in World Lifesize Mammal and Judge’s Choice Best of Show. The piece also took home People’s Choice Best of Show. With his first World Show win, the bar had been raised. Many competitors came to realize that not only opening the subject’s mouth, but doing so in an ultra realistic and flawlessly executed manner, was necessary to compete at the highest levels. This trend still continues even to this day. With this remarkable piece of taxidermy, Rodney had singlehandedly awakened the industry to the degree of realism that was possible.
Over the next twenty two years, he went on to collect seven more Best in World Titles and eight more gold medallions utilizing subjects that were less mainstream that most competitors. Of his World Titles, four have come in different categories and he has accomplished every Best in World title with a difference species, a staggering accomplishment that may never be eclipsed. Many years ago he set a personal milestone to reach ten World Taxidermy Championship gold medallions. He realized this dream at the World Championships in 2019, surrounded by many members of the Wisconsin Taxidermy Association that have looked up to him and competed against him for decades. That night, he won his eighth Best in World gold medallion and his tenth overall gold, which placed him at the top of the all-time list.
Rodney’s accomplishments in the competitive taxidermy arena are unparalleled. His longevity in the industry and his ability to compete at such a high level for so long are astonishing. His innovative open mouth techniques have produced some of the finest, most memorable and realistic pieces of taxidermy the industry has ever seen. He has been a judge, seminar instructor and during his long tenure as a member of the Wisconsin Taxidermy Association he has served as a steady and constant inspiration to many young and experienced taxidermists alike, motivating them to compete harder and push their own limits.
Throughout his career, Rodney Schreurs has embodied the many qualities that should garner consideration for induction to the Taxidermy Hall of Fame. He has been a humble, yet fierce competitor; in fact, the most decorated of all time. He has pushed his personal limits and in turn brought innovation to the industry; expanding the vision of what many taxidermists thought was possible. Rodney Schreurs has elevated the art of taxidermy to new heights and your consideration to induct him to the Taxidermy Hall of Fame is greatly appreciated.
Herman H. ter Meer
Nominee: Herman H. ter Meer
Date of birth: December 16, 1871
Date of death: March 9, 1934
Place of birth: Leiden, Netherlands
Burial place: Südfriedhof Cemetery, Cologne, Germany
Herman H. ter Meer, Dutch taxidermist, was born December 16, 1871 in Leiden, Netherlands. He died March 9, 1934 in Leipzig, Germany and is buried in the Sudfriedhof cemetery. He is often referred to as the “European Akeley” by European taxidermists because, even though Carl E. Akeley was some years older, Herman developed his own technique for making manikins and was a pioneer of modern dermoplasty.
By using a mixture of plaster, glue, and turf, he was able to make a manikin which could be sculpted as it slowly hardened. For bases, he used wood and wireframes which he covered with a layer of plaster-rag, much like the burlap and plaster strips used in museums in the United States at that time. Christoph Meier, who was a young trainee in the late 1970’s said there were quite a number of “old taxidermy-cracs” in Europe who said that ter Meer’s technique was better than Akeley’s. This was mainly because their opinions were such that “you must do the hard work of a sculptor with material which is stable”.
Year after year, the ter Meer technique was used less and less for one reason or another, nevertheless, Herman was there in Europe. He always claimed that a taxidermist is an artist and not the same as “a small bird and mammal stuffer”. On February 1, 1895, Herman was employed at the Reich Museum of Natural History in Leiden as a taxidermist, where at that time, his father, Hermanus Hendrikus was the animal preparator. After his father retired in 1900, Herman continued to develop preparation methods, which included teaching important field care of the specimens. Not being happy with his working conditions, in 1907 he accepted an offer to work at the Zoological Institute of the University of Leipzig.
Ter Meer found joy working on new projects which included deep sea animals collected from the Valdivia Expedition in 1899. He always emphasized the importance of life-like realism in his work achieved from anatomical accuracy, and improved techniques which expressed the artful spirit of the specimen. As a result of these personal feelings, in 1931 he founded the special association called DEUKEMUS, with sculpting, artist taxidermists as members. The Association of German Taxidermists (VDP) continues today as a result of Herman H. ter Meer’s professional organization of museum dermoplastikers.
Jan Van Hoesen
Nominee: Jan Van Hoesen
Date of birth: May 5, 1942
Date of death: December 1, 2017
Place of birth: Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
Jan Van Hoesen lived in northeastern lower Michigan with a large menagerie of wild animals for live study. She held a teaching degree from Michigan State University, and served on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Taxidermist Association, the International Guild of Taxidermy, the National Taxidermists Association and the United Taxidermist Association. Jan established her world-class credentials in the early 1990’s when she took top honors at major taxidermy competitions with her outstanding mammal work, including winning the 1992 World Champion title for mammal taxidermy. She was also a respected taxidermy judge at all levels of competition, including the World Championships.
Jan Van Hoesen burst onto the scene with multiple wins at all levels of competition, winning the top awards at state, regional, national, international and World shows. She not only impressed the judges, but won numerous People’s Choice awards as well. It was always a treat for attendees anticipating what Jan would bring to a competition. Each of her small mammal entries showed a exciting new take on the species. The poses she chose had never been seen before in any taxidermy works. They all seem to capture subtle moments in animal behavior that portrayed the elusive “essence of the species” that all taxidermists strive for, but few achieve.
Jan had a secret weapon in understanding the finer points of anatomy and attitude. She lived with dozens of live animals at her home. She had bobcats and lynxes as pets in her house, and also raised raccoons, foxes and coyotes. This intimate knowledge of animal behavior gave her the inspiration to create works which always portrayed an accurate representation of nature.
Her backyard was a maze of cages, pens and hutches. She loved all the residents of her wildlife menagerie and took great care of them. As live reference is always best, she studied their behavior for hours at a time. The photographs she made of her mammals became some of the best-selling reference photo sets which are still carried to this day by major taxidermy supply companies.
When Jan was an active taxidermist, she specialized only in custom small mammal taxidermy. She did not produce assembly-line work. Each pose was carefully and artistically chosen to match the specimen. Instead of purchasing commercial mannikins off-the-shelf, Jan would meticulously cast, mold, sculpt, and create a new custom mannikin for each piece. The result was always a one-of-a-kind work of art. Through Jan’s unique knowledge of animal behavior and her artistic talent, she created beautiful works of taxidermy art which portray the very essence of the animal with honesty and dignity.
Jan was active in the politics of taxidermy, using her skills to advance the art and organizations for the betterment of the profession. She served on many boards, including the Michigan Taxidermist Association, the International Guild of Taxidermy, and the National Taxidermists Association. She was a Lifetime Charter Member of the United Taxidermist Association and served on its very first Board of Directors.
For many years, Jan sculpted mannikins for several major supply companies, and developed a line of realistic earliners as well as reference photo sets. She valliently battled the blood disease Mylodysplastic Syndrome for the final years of her life. She continued to occasionally judge competitions up until her death in 2017.
