Jersey Shore Folk Life Center
Demonstrator
Schedule | Meet our Artists
| Adult and Children’s Classes
Fred Reitmeyer
- Carver
Waterfowler
Fred Reitmeyer Jr. of Pomona, NJ carves his decoys using the tools and
techniques he learned from his grandfather, the legendary boat builder
Carl Adams. He began carving at the age of 12, making his first decoys,
a rig of black ducks, from cork. Fred Reitmeyer carves a classic Barnegat
Bay decoy but instead of gouging out his hollow decoys, he uses a resource
efficient three piece technique developed by his grandfather. Carl Adam
utilized scrap plank ends, hollowed out the middle piece with a saber saw
and saved the refuse for a duck head or a sand piper.
A regular
demonstrator at the Tuckerton Seaport, Fred Reitmeyer teaches youth carving
classes and he is an instructor in the Jersey Shore Folklife Center’s Jersey
Traditions curriculum. Fred Reitmeyer represented New Jersey decoy carving
traditions at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2004 and he was one
of six carvers in the state invited to participate in the 2004 Mid Atlantic
Decoy Competition. Fred Reitmeyer is a NJ Master decoy carver teaching
in the New Jersey Council on the Arts' Apprenticeship program.
