It was during the 1980s that Offner began capturing birds and fish. His manner was unique, as John Davis, a fellow Smith College art professor explained, “Elliot captured the abstract beauty of movement in the natural world, always with a warmth and richness of surface that reminded viewers of the transformative power of the artist’s hand.” Pike was part of Vose Galleries’ important solo exhibition of Offner’s work, held in 2007, and acquired privately by Abbot W. and Marcia L. Vose, who appreciated Elliot’s ability to balance the creature’s menacing grin of razor-sharp teeth with its contained energy.

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