Born and raised near Corpus Christi, Texas, Lloyd Hinze graduated from Texas A&I University and launched his professional career as a pilot with the United States Air Force where he flew with the famed “Hurricane Hunters.”

After over 22 years of service, he retired and, with no training in art, started a second career by turning a seven-year hobby of wood carving into a small business. He entered the art show circuit with his detailed, realistic wood carvings of fish, ducks, and some other creatures of nature common to the Gulf of Mexico, and immediately gained recognition as a talented artist by earning numerous “Best of Show” and other awards at fine art shows throughout Florida. Lloyd’s love for nature and long-time involvement as an avid fisherman and outdoorsman is certainly reflected in his carvings.

Lloyd got his start carving lifelike decorative duck decoys with glass eyes and overlapping layers of feathers detailed with a wood burner. Lloyd admits “the ducks taught me detail and patience.”

Most of Lloyd’s more recent carvings have been of fish—both saltwater and freshwater species. Fish carvings range in size from less than two inches (minnow, tropicals) to over four feet (groupers, dolphin fish, tarpon, etc.).

Fish are detailed with scales, glass eyes and textured fins. Some fish are mounted on driftwood or manzanita root for tabletop displays and others hang directly on the wall. Also, dolphins (mammals), manatees, sea turtles, and an occasional reptile are sometimes found in his studio.

 
Lloyd’s goal as an artist? “To do my best to capture the beauties of nature as they were created. My reward is bringing smiles to the faces of those who view my work.”

And when Lloyd’s not carving, you may find him busy at his latest artistic endeavor, Raku Pottery.