PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS AND BIOGRAPHY

GENERAL BACKGROUND

Burt Reckles 70 year fascination in creating miniatures has progressed from constructing kits in his youth, to scratch built showpieces highlighted by both his unique, serious and humorous glass encaspsulated miniatures ("GEM") art works.

Many of his creations are now a part of the permanent collections of museums in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including the Smithsonian, where his work work was labeled “Modern American Maritime Art”. His pieces have been included in multiple exhibitions and received many competitive awards.

Reckles has authored technical articles and stories that have been published in both general interest and academic publications, including Ships in Scale, Model Ship Builder, The Bottle Shipwright, and The Journal of the Nautical Research Guild.

Most recently his pieces focusing on the Holocaust have been recognized by the US Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem which list him on their Artists Registry. Both have recognized him as the "sole" artisan listed in their registries working in this 400 year old dying art medium.  This recognition has led to exhibitions and speaking engagements on this unique facet of his art.

The State of Texas Commision On The Arts lists him as an Artist In Residence.

MUSEUM REPRESENTATION

Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.

• Many Techniques To Building A Ship In A Bottle

Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Detroit, Michigan

• Brig In A Bulb and Many Techniques To Building A Ship In A Bottle

Houston Maritime Museum, Houston, Texas

• Group Presentations of　Ships and Dioramas in Bottles, Lightbulbs, and Cased Art
• Replicated Napoleonic Prisoner of War scrimshawed ivory British Dispatch Vessel

Japanese Ships-In-Bottles Museum, Osaka, Japan

• What Do You Do With 3 Burned Out Light Bulbs?

Maritime Museum of San Diego, San Diego, California

• Whalehunt

• U.S.S. Constitution

Royal Danish Naval Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark

• We Drank Each Others Health

Vasa Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

• Vasa Sank . . . Vasa’s Spirit Still Sails

Estate Whim Plantation Museum, Frederiksted St. Croix, Virgin Islands

• First Salute

PUBLISHED ARTICLES - TECHNICAL & ILLUSTRATED

Seaway's Ships In Scale, Vol. XXVI, No. 6, 2015 - Teaching Academy Award Winners
         To Put Ships in Bottles

Seaway's Ships In Scale, Vol. XXII, No. 2, 2011 - So Easy a 3 Year Old Can Do It...
         (With a Little Help)

Seaways’ Ships In Scale, Vol. XIX, No. 6, 2008 - What a Mixup

Nautical Research Journal, Vol. 52, No. 3, Fall 2007 - A Serious Proposal to Increase Public
         Perception, Appreciation and Involvement in Ship Modeling

Seaway’s Ships in Scale, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 2006 – Customizing Mantua’s San Felipe Kit

The Bottle Shipwright, Vol. 23, No. 3, 2005 - Holocaust Bottles

Seaways’ Ships In Scale, Vol. XV, No. 6, 2004 - 2004 Ships-In-Bottles Exhibition

The Bottle Shipwright, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2004 - USS Constitution

Seaways’ Ships In Scale, Vol. XII, No. 3, 2001 - Diaspora

Model Ship Builder Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 119; May-June, 1999 - A Non-Traditional USS Constitution

The Bottle Shipwright, Vol. 12, No. 4, 1994 - Texas Navy Top Sail Schooner Independence

Model Ship Builder Magazine, Vol. XVI, No. 92; Nov. - Dec., 1994 -

Building Historical Ship Models From Original Wood

The Bottle Shipwright, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1992 - Brig-In-A-Bulb

Model Ship Builder Magazine, Vol. X, No. 59; May - June, 1989 - Building Light Bulb Ship Models

Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference of the Nautical Research Guild, (Oct. 21 - 23, 1988) – Louisiana Naval

War Museum & Nautical Historic Center, Baton Rouge, La. - Building Ships In Glass Containers

Ships in Bottles Of The World, 1983 & 1984 - Wharf Scene - U.S.S. Constitution, Setting Out To Sea

ARTIST IN RESIDENCY

Designated “Artist in Residence” by The Texas State Commission On The Arts - 1991

COMPETITIONS

Model Mania - Fine Scale Model Competition 

• First Place - Wooden Sailing Craft

• Second Place - Diorama Fictional

• Second Place - Diorama Miscellaneous

Red Bull Art of the Can 2010, Miami Beach. FL 

• Juried competition and traveling exhibit. Selected as one of 42 finalist's from over 400 entries representing 9 countries (Working His Way Up To A Case)

Craft Houston 2004: Texas – Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas

• Juried competition and year long traveling exhibition to multiple Texas art museums (I Told You It Wasn’t Round)

2001 Ships In Bottle International Assn. Meeting & Competition

• First Place – Many Techniques To Building A Ship In A Bottle

1985-2007 8 First Premium and 5 Second Premium awards in creative arts competitions at the State Fair of Texas (Dallas), and the Fort Bend County Fair (Texas) & other venues

EXHIBITIONS

• North American International Ships-In-Bottles Expostion, 2004

        Maritime Museum of San Diego, San Diego, California

 • Ships In Bottles Assn. of America Exhibition

Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Detroit, Michigan

• USS Constitution and the U.S. Navy, 200 Years of History, 1997

        USS Constitution Museum; Charlestown, MA

• World Wide Ships-In-Bottles Exposition, 1997

        Washington Navy Yard Museum; Washington, DC

• Treaty Oak Remembered, 1993

        Commemorative honoring 500-year-old tree involved in the founding of Texas, Austin
        TX.  Duplicate display created and on permanent exhibition at The George
        Memorial Library, Richmond, TX., July 1994

• Fifteenth Annual Conference of the Nautical Research Guild, 1988

        Louisiana Naval War Museum & Nautical Historic Center, Baton Rouge, LA.

• Third Annual Gulf South Ship Model Exhibition, 1987

        Naval War Museum & Nautical Historic Center, Baton Rouge, LA.

• First & Second Japan International Ships-In-Bottles Exposition, 1983 & 1984
            Osaka, Yokohama, & Tokyo Japan

LECTURES

La Salle's La Belle - A Pretty Ship that Changed Texas History, Houston
            Maritime Museum, Houston, TX.

COMMISSIONS

Commissions have included a piece for the City of Austin, Texas, “Treaty Oak” fund raising event, models of boat owner’s yachts or sailboats built in bottles or light bulbs out of wood from their boat, models of US Navy vessels custom built for crew members, as well as repairs and reconditioning of static, cased family heirloom models, and conservation of museum pieces.

ABC-TV Emmy Award winning Series American Crime, 2016 Season, Technical Adviser Teaching lead star and director the proper techniques for putting a ship in a bottle. Filmed and used in several episodes of the series. 

AFFILIATIONS

Member, Board of Directors, Houston Maritime Museum

Gulf Coast Historical Ship Modelers Society - Houston, TX.

Nautical Research Guild - Bethesda, MD.

Ships-In-Bottles Assoc. of America - Coronado, CA.

Advisory Member, Technical Assistance Network of the Nautical Research Guild

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL ART

Yad Vashem Museum of Holocaust Art Jerusalem, Israel

• Eulogy

Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum Jerusalem, Israel

      International Archive of Holocaust Artists, 2009 

United States Holocaust Museum, Washington, D.C.

Artist Registry – Source for museums seeking exhibition art, September 2005

Holocaust Museum Houston, TX

One Man Exhibition Antisemitism...Exodus to the Holocaust – July-September, 2006

          • A Jew Lived Here • Diaspora

• Crystal Night • Exodus 1947

• St. Louis - A Voyage of the Damned • Auschwitz Aftermath

Holocaust Art Exhibits, Lectures and Presentations

First Thursday Lecture Series September 1, 2001 

• Eulogy...A Holocaust Art Piece

Appearances at many Houston area schools, service organizations, museums and synagogues.

PUBLICITY

Jewish Herald Voice, August 18, 2011 - Eulogy Holocaust Miniature

Houston Chronicle Ultimate, March 31 - April 6, 2011 - Ships Ahoy 

Houston Chronicle, January 9, 2003 - Inspiration In A Bottle

CBS News (KHOU) Live At Five, November, 2002 - Ships In Bottles

Houston Chronicle, August 20, 1998 - Time In A Bottle

Fort Bend Lifestyle, October 1994 - Down to the Sea In Good Spirits/Burt Reckles Models History