Meaghan Baxter

James Greisinger hopes to one day teach others how to create taxidermy-inspired art.

What’s your first thought when you hear the term “taxidermy-inspired” art? Images of decapitated wildlife with creepy, blank stares mounted lifelessly on a wall likely come to mind. Thankfully, James Greisinger’s artwork is a far cry from those images, not to mention, much more humane.

Greisinger is a blacksmith who created his own company, Stone, Wood and Steel, in which he makes custom architectural metalwork that serves both functionally and esthetically. The other side of his business is called Yahmis, which is his name in German and a nickname he had as a child. This side focuses on his increasingly sought-after steel trophy heads.

Before moving his studio to the Rocky Mountain foothills area, Greisinger and his wife lived in Calgary. He began scouring garage sales to find real trophy heads to flank on either side of their large dining room. His wife protested because she didn’t want a dead animal in the house, so Greisinger decided to make his own alternative out of steel.

“I brought home the buck first. She loved it, I loved it,” he says.

From there, he began sculpting a moose, which was spotted by a client during a consultation for another project, and the client loved it so much she bought it on the spot.

“I started thinking there was something there,” says Greisinger, adding that he’s not a hunter. “These pieces enable people to appreciate the beauty of these animals without the sacrifice of the animal.”

He began creating more trophy heads, rounding out a series called The Big Five, paying homage to Canadian wildlife icons including moose, bighorn sheep and deer that roam the foothills surrounding his home.

“These are 100 per cent hand-manipulated. You can tell every hit of the hammer to shape it, so each one is slightly different,” he says. “I couldn’t make them identical if I tried.”

The pieces are made even more unique by their mounting boards, which are crafted out of native Canadian wood. They each have a different grain pattern, complementing the uniqueness of each head.

Greisinger also gives each animal its own name, such as Batholomieu for a moose and Buckley for a buck.

“Just being out here in this area is even more inspiring. You see these bucks walking through, and I could never shoot one. They’re so majestic to just look at.”

Greisinger works on his trophy heads part time, devoting the rest of his business to working closely with architects, interior designers and homeowners. This allows him to be creative in an entirely different way, pushing him to constantly evolve his blacksmith art.

“Everyone seems to want something different, so everyday is a new challenge. I’m lucky for that,” he says. “The biggest thing for me is that I wanted to get into something that I was excited about every morning. I thought it was in the carpentry world, but once I started to figure out how much you can manipulate steel, I just love that side of it.”

He has been perfecting his craft for 14 years, and has been fortunate enough to learn from blacksmiths from Europe and Japan.

Blacksmithing is a dying art in Canada, due to the fact it is no longer recognized as a trade. Greisinger took the introductory class offered at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and from there, he taught himself. His learning, he says, will never finish.

“I don’t feel I’m a journeyman yet. There’s so many techniques around the world to learn, I think you’ve got to be old and grey, or greyer than me, before you can really consider yourself a journeyman,” says Greisinger. “The unfortunate part is so many of those techniques are dying with these old guys.”

Greisinger hopes to start teaching weekend classes so that he can pass the techniques on to others.

He is inspired every time he travels and witnesses how culturally diverse blacksmiths from different countries are. Greisinger blends many of these techniques into his own work, creating a unique style that is all his own.

“On my honeymoon, I took a blacksmithing class, so that tells you how much I’m always trying to grab more and more knowledge,” he says.

His company is going to expand this coming fall when he hopes to open a new shop. Even though this will mean hiring staff, Greisinger wants to remain involved in every aspect of the business.

“I’ve always wanted to keep control. I never had aspirations to become this big company. I still get a kick out of seeing the customer’s reaction.”