Scrimshaw was once the province of working whalemen at sea as a way to pass the time during voyages that could last five years or more. Today's scrimshanders are highly skilled and trained artists who have selected engraving on ivory as their chosen medium. This new breed of ivory artists uses both historical information and their imaginations to create highly complex works of art in a wide variety of subjects. Foremost among these is Robert Weiss (b.1952) who is regarded by many as the premier practitioner of this art form. Bob is one of only two marine artists to have won the prestigious Rudolph J. Schaefer Maritime Heritage Award three times. The top award given each year at the Mystic International Marine Art Exhibition, it recognizes the one work in the show that “best documents our maritime heritage, past or present, for generations of the future.”

After graduating Pratt Institute in 1978 he pursued a career in commercial art in NYC, working variously as an advertising art director, graphic designer, and freelance studio artist. In 1985 a friend living on Nantucket island sent him a scrimshaw kit as a gift. He fell in love with the art form and after several more years of working by day in the city, and nights at home practicing scrimshaw, he finally made the leap into marine art as a full-time career. From 1993 through 1996, Bob studied The Riley Method of Classical Realism at The Riley League of Artists in White Plains, New York. This experience gave him the picture making skills needed to push his scrimshaw to new levels. Whether it's the drama of a Nantucket sleigh ride, the gnarled visage of a whaling captain or the inquisitive expression of a walrus perched on arctic ice, Bob not only remains faithful to historical and natural detail, but captures the essence of his subject as well.

Shortly after moving to the Big Island of Hawaii in 2006, Bob began painting outdoors a few times a week. He has since laid down the engraving tools and now paints full-time, in and out of the studio.