Widely considered to be America’s greatest woodcarver, John Haley Bellamy’s iconic sculptures – particularly his famed eagles – vie with such hallowed icons as the Statue of Liberty, the Great Seal of the United States, and Old Glory itself in representing the United States. Yet while his work is well known across America his life’s story has lain obscured behind a host of ribald legends and erroneous myths… until now.
An independent curator and lecturer specializing in American marine art, author James A. Craig first became enamored with New England's maritime saga while studying Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts. Having by his own admission “fallen” into the world of fine art, Craig was first employed at the House of the Seven Gables Museum in nearby Salem, MA, where he served as a curatorial assistant and museum educator. He went on to serve as Associate Curator for Collections at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he published an award winning biography on the great American marine painter Fitz Henry Lane.
An independent curator and lecturer specializing in American marine art, author James A. Craig first became enamored with New England's maritime saga while studying Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts. Having by his own admission “fallen” into the world of fine art, Craig was first employed at the House of the Seven Gables Museum in nearby Salem, MA, where he served as a curatorial assistant and museum educator. He went on to serve as Associate Curator for Collections at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he published an award winning biography on the great American marine painter Fitz Henry Lane.