(1900 - 1999)
Walter Myette was born in 1900. He lived in the beautiful acadian village of Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia until his death at the age of 99.In 1974 Walter began carving life size birds. He used available everyday objects to create his birds, carving the body from a piece of kindling from his woodpile. He often used kitchen string wrapped around wire for the legs and on one of his seagulls he used bandaids to make the webbed feet.
His carvings were discovered by a TV crew documenting the community skills and culture of his acadian community, and his work quickly became popular with collectors throughout Canada and the US. He continued to carve in his little house on eastern shore until his late 90's.
Ref: Kobayashi/Bird, A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists (1985); Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).
