September 2020 3D Featured Artist Ken Yacavone

Ken Yacavone, who moved to Cape Coral from Ohio in 2017, became interested in carving waterfowl in the late 1980s after noticing duck decoys in the Outer Banks. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Youngstown State University. Yacavone worked many years in the home furnishing industry as a buyer, sales trainer and interior designer, and spent a large part of his career in retail management.

“I was inspired by antique ducks and shorebird decoys,” said Yacavone. “I draw my own patterns, and most of my creations are carved by hand with little use of power tools. Once they are ready, I paint the majority of my work with oils.”

After years of cleaning up beaches he visited, Yacavone saw an opportunity to combine his artistic abilities with his concerns about the environment. He soon began incorporating plastic pollution recovered from the ocean in his carvings. He donated one of his duck beach pollution statement pieces to Ding Darling National Refuge to use in programs to educate the public about plastics in the environment. Additional pollution decoys have been donated to refuges in Ohio and Hawaii.

Yacavone began showing his carvings in galleries in 2017 and has won awards for his work in Ohio and California.