Back in March, a gentleman approached the On The Water booth during the Saltwater Fishing Expo in Edison, New Jersey. “Tim Cromarty” he said, gesturing with a handshake. Tim’s business card read, “Found Object Art – Tim Cromarty”, with a toothy fish sculpture on the back that was an amalgamation of rusted rake tines, corroded gears and bolts, and other antique-shop collectibles that would be of questionable value to most. One look and it was clear that Tim Cromarty’s artwork redefines the phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.
For the past 20 years, Cromarty, who is now retired, worked as a carpenter on Fisher’s Island off the coast of eastern Connecticut. Each morning, he caught a ferry ride out to the island from the local marina near his home in Old Lyme on a 30-foot Mount Desert Island with 5 other passengers. The Downeast-style boat provided a comfortable ride and was the perfect fishing vessel. When anyone spotted striped bass or bluefish breaking the surface on return trips to the mainland during the fall, the captain pulled the boat over for a quick topwater bite to end a hard day’s work.
Cromarty is a fisherman to his core. He grew up on a protected cove in Old Saybrook and spent much of his time crabbing and fishing from a 27-foot Sea Bright skiff. Today, though, he considers himself a light-tackle shore fisherman. In 2004, when he was beginning his tenure on Fisher’s Island, he put a 53-inch striped bass on the Connecticut sand. The fish hit a yellow ¾-ounce jointed Bomber in 3 feet of water while he was fishing with only 12-pound-test line. The once-in-a-lifetime catch solidified his love for striped bass and the sport of fishing, but it wasn’t until years later that Cromarty pursued fish-themed art as a side hustle or an eventual retirement venture.
Cromarty did not consider himself artistically inclined. In fact, he was kicked out of an art class for mouthing off to his teacher. However, art was a part of his family’s life. “My mother was a painter and everyone in my family has at least a little artistic talent,” he said. “Back then, I used to make Christmas ornaments for fun.”
After four years working on homes around Fisher’s, Cromarty started to explore the island’s rocky beaches during his lunch breaks. He admired the many “treasures”—driftwood, sea glass, clam shells, and old buoys—that the currents of the Long Island Sound brought to its shorelines. That’s when it dawned on him to create nautical art using the objects he found on the beaches.
Over time, Cromarty collected around 1,000 buoys that had washed ashore and began making fish sculptures out of them. He cut each buoy in half with a bandsaw, added fins and tails using cedar shingles and, beginning in 2008, sold them to tourists and vacationers at a small shop in downtown Mystic. The shop has since closed, but those initial sales of buoy fish sculptures helped him realize the demand for unique marine-themed art in coastal areas.
For additional color and texture, he began to incorporate wood and metal into his work. He sought out the weathered look of rugged shards of driftwood or the rusting cleats of a washed-up dock or boat which further enhanced the nautical aura of his art.
Not all of Cromarty’s materials are from beach collections, though. He has an eye for unique shapes and items that could potentially be used in sculptures of fish, crabs, lobsters, and other animals like chickens, sheep, owls, and even chameleons. Three times a year, he attends the Brimfield Antique Flea Market (also in Connecticut) to seek out “junk” that he deems fit for an upcoming piece. Cromarty also has a group of friends, jokingly referred to as his “minions”, who seek out and collect materials from resale and thrift shops, yard sales, and even the local dump.
A single haul from an antique shop (or a trip to the dump) may yield numerous items destined to become a fish sculpture; it could be a rocking chair with runners that Cromarty extracts to shape the body of a fish, or a bucketful of old hand sickles that can be used as tail fins on a tuna sculpture.
“The collection process is fun because I don’t always know what I’m looking for,” Cromarty said. At times, he does have an idea for a fish sculpture and seeks out shapes that align with the design; however, in many instances, he has bins full of items waiting for the right piece or purpose. Cromarty’s lax yet determined method of acquiring new materials for his sculptures gives him more creative freedom when it comes time to build in his 1500 square-foot workspace. For example, he may start off making a crab that eventually ends up as a bumble bee. Variable parts and shapes often take a piece in a different direction as he builds it. He fastens items together by carefully screwing, gluing, and nailing them together until the collection becomes a whole.
There is an undeniable quirkiness to Cromarty’s Found Object Fish Sculptures, and he has a good sense of humor about it. “If you’ve ever watched the show Hoarders on TV, those guys are amateurs. You should see my workspace,” chuckled Cromarty. He sells his art at shows such as the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival or at others located between Cape Cod and New Jersey, hunting for new materials all the while. And, despite his expansive basement workshop filling up with repurposed “trash”, a quick trip to the dump is all it takes to make space for building the next customer’s treasure.
Instagram: @timcromarty
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