Bird Man from Moldova – Igor Carogodin the Artist - Part 1
“So, where in Russia did you grow up?” Did I hear a weary sigh from Igor Carogodin following this misinformed question? Maybe, maybe, not. But he showed great kindness by gently correcting my error based on my ‘ear’ hearing a Russian accent. “I’m actually from Moldova” was his succinct response. Now, maybe you know where that is, but my geographic knowledge of Eastern Europe is pretty much limited to such places as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Already having made a major blunder with the first question of my interview, I at least kept from asking “Where is that?!” After the interview I did what any self-respecting 21st Century person would do – Google here I come.
Moldova, according to the Britannica site, is in the northeastern corner of the Balkans, with its capital city of Chișinău located in the south-central portion of the country. If that doesn’t get you there, Moldova was known formerly as Bessarabia when it was part of Romania, with Russia subsequently – in defense of my ignorance – grabbing it after WWII.
(By the way, I followed up my boo-boo with a safe inquiry; Igor turned 60 in 2022…)
Who is Igor Carogodin? In layman terms, he’s a taxidermist. In the greater world in which he exists, an artist with few peers, winning top awards for his mounts at world championships. More reflective of his standing across the widest range of organizations and people are the appeals that pour in to preserve precious samples, like the 10–11-foot wing spanned, California Condor and New Zealand Albatross, both posed to maximize their stately beauty. From small museums in southern California to the Los Angeles and Seattle Museums of Natural History, to Dick and Mary Cabela’s 15,000+ square foot trophy room, to even my modest office space, Igor brings the same passion for his subjects, turning them into works of art reflecting the biology of the species. The curve of the heads, positioning of each digit, tilt of the bodies – every detail draws the viewer into the unique natural history of the specimen. Before we go back in time to address how Igor became the artist de jure of bird taxidermy, the answer to one other question recommended (in my mind) his love for color, majesty, and movement; Igor’s favorite bird to mount is the Ring-necked Pheasant.
Playing Hooky, Sketching Birds, ‘Borrowing’ Specimens, Studying Biology, Teaching Biology, and Running Museums
A Single-Minded Journey to Greatness
I don’t know what the Moldovan words are for “Mom, I’m sick”, but apparently Igor used them frequently to get out of going to school. I expect his mom, like all other mothers, was insightful enough to know that her young son was prevaricating about being ill, but she let him believe that his ruse fooled her. Regardless, his absence from school wasn’t so he could play video games or watch the Russian Opera on TV. Instead, he spent his ‘sick days’ in the local parks sketching birds. These formative years locked into his young mind the habitats favored and attitudes assumed by the various park-visiting Avian species. Maybe his time in the park also explains why, of all non-game species, he prefers to work with smaller forms occurring in groups. For example, one of the World prize awards recognized his superior work on a collection of Redwing Blackbirds.
Igor’s attraction for work with museum displays reflects his love of all things birds. “I love the museum work because it almost always involves non-game species never sent to me by hunters.” His scholastic pursuits likewise reflected an addiction to birds. “I studied biology so that I could dig deeply into the habits, morphology and ecology of animals, but in the process, and unlike most of my contemporaries, I fell in love with birds rather than mammals.” In case you are wondering, Igor has no anti-hunter leanings, nor does he dislike working with game birds. He hunted frequently when living in Moldova, with his favorite forays involving pursuits for ducks, and during the time encompassing our several interview sessions, he sent photos of ducks, prairie chickens etc. in various stages of mounting. But he also sent me photos of exquisitely arrayed groups of seabirds. His eye and hands do indeed know no bounds when it comes to making even rarely encountered birds come back to life. This was not always the case, however. As Igor explained, “My first attempt at taxidermy occurred when I was 13. I found a chickadee lying dead in the snow. I had no idea how to preserve it, so I injected the body with perfume containing alcohol. Fortunately, though, a neighbor who was a biologist showed me how to skin the chickadee and though the mount wasn’t great, it fueled my passion. I am a bit ashamed to reveal that my next step involved theft. I went into the local Museum of Natural History and stole a bird from the collection, took it home, tore it apart and then reconstructed it. That probably taught me as much about taxidermy as any other single event along the way!”
With a larceny episode involving a museum specimen behind him, it’s a bit ironic that Igor’s professional life began as Director of the Nature Department of the National Museum of Nature and Culture. At the same time, he taught field biology of vertebrates for Chișinău University. This academic work, begun in 1984, continued until Igor failed to obtain a visa to move to Europe, instead, accepting a position at the esteemed Darwin Museum of Natural History in Moscow. From there, in 1998, he finally emigrated, but rather than Europe, his migration took him to the United States. This change marked the transition from, in Igor’s words, “a society where no one wanted to help me because they were concerned with protecting their territory so that they could make money for themselves, to a place with huge opportunities for growth in my skills and expansion in my network of clients, both museums and individuals.”
The museum clientele attracted by Igor’s reputation, as mentioned before, ranged from small to huge. His individual clients reflected the same range in scale. As examples of enormous collections are those of the Cabela family and Dallas Safari Club Board Member, Rick Warren. For some time, Igor worked exclusively on Dick and Mary Cabela’s extensive collections three-four times a year. When Rick Warren decided to build a major collection of African birds into his Wildlife Gallery in Austin, Texas he invited Igor on an extended Safari/collecting trip to Africa. Many, many birds later, the Warren Wildlife Center is a major exhibit of the Igor Carogodin’s mastery of taxidermy. Yet even those collectors who have few avian trophies to their credit can provide illustrations of the Carogodin process. In fact, detailed examination of a few specimens provides the laser focus necessary to understand the intricacy of Igor’s conceptualization and execution underpinning his works of art…
The Final Part of Igor’s Story Coming Soon!
