BUSINESS

TWELVE YEARS LATER
A CONVERSATION AND INTERVIEW WITH MIKE BOYCE PART 1
by Larry Blomquist

IT HAS BEEN 12 YEARS SINCE OUR FIRST INTERVIEW with Mike Boyce, and in that 1991 summer issue, his words stimulated the thoughts of thousands of taxidermists. Because of that one compelling article, that issue became the first issue of Breakthrough that completely sold out in less than a year after publication.

From 1970 to 1990, our industry progressed tremendously through improved supplies, unity and education, but it was in the decades of the 1990s that art was firmly instituted in commercial taxidermy and the big studios began to grow and flourish. I attribute much of this change to Mike Boyce. Several events and individuals over the years have brought direction to the taxidermy profession, and Mike is one of them.

During the 1980s, Safari Club International and the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep brought affluent hunters together with desires to hunt and collect the most prized big game species in North America and around the world. Hunting became a big business, beyond any of our expectations. Their pursuit was not only the thrill of the hunt, but also a quest for trophies. Their visions of game rooms were traditional until their interest was evoked by the animal artistry of Mike Boyce.

Many of us witnessed this new legion of baby-boomer hunters seeking game around the world, but only a few knew the real potential for taxidermists. Mike Boyce played an significant roll in stimulating hunters’ desire for more than the status quo in taxidermy. More importantly for us, we found that hunters were willing to pay for quality taxidermy displayed in creative, natural habitat settings. Mike lead the way in marketing taxidermy as art and educating hunters why it costs more. He captured real life scenes from nature and enhanced them with artful habitat. Game rooms became exhibits of wildlife as they were in the wild, with a unique union of museum quality and art gallery appeal.

In June of this year, I visited with Mike again to get his views of business and taxidermy 12 years later. His top assistant and production manager for Animal Artistry, Inc., Stuart Farnsworth, also joined us for a conversation, which I am sure you will...

...Continued in the Summer 2003 Issue of Breakthrough.

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