Professional Whip Artistry Training & Entertainment

Professional Whip Artistry Training & Entertainment


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  • 2022 American Western Arts Showcase at Annie Oakley Festival

    American Western Arts Showcase at Annie Oakley Festival

    Darke County Fairground, Greenville, Ohio

    Greenville, OH – Entrepreneur and professional whip artist Gery L. Deer and thrown weapons expert, Kirk Bass, of Xenia, will lead a full troupe of Wild West arts experts during the 2022 American Western Arts Showcase at the Annie Oakley Festival, on July 29 and 30 at the Darke County Fairground in Greenville, Ohio. The event is free and open to the public.

    Presented in the spirit of the stage-style Wild West shows of the late 19th Century, each production will include some detailed history of how these arts came to be and who still practices them today. In addition to performing, Gery Deer is also the show’s producer and chief backer.

    “This is a one-of-a-kind show in this region,” Deer says. “We have some of the best Wild West arts entertainment anywhere in the Midwest with real practitioners of each skill,” says Deer, who started the event in Jamestown, Ohio, in 2002. “These are talented performers with genuine ability, no fakery, no tricks. Everything you see in our show is real and all of our shows are in 3-D and high definition!”

    Champion knife thrower Kirk Bass, of Xenia, Ohio, is co-producer of the event. He and his daring wife Melodee are among the performers to take the open-air stage for a series of western arts perform the suspenseful Bass Blades impalement show, and much more.

    Whip marksmanship competitions headline the afternoon show beginning with the Whip Speed and Accuracy Exhibition Competition, the world’s first Bullwhip Fast Draw contest. Plus, there is a brand new contest taken straight from the big screen.

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    In the spirit of Dr. Jones’ proficiency, this year’s Showcase competition will include a special “blind fast draw,” where whip artists must mimic the move used in the film to turn, draw their holstered whip and shoot at a target with speed and accuracy. In 1981, a fedora-wearing, leather-clad archaeologist threw the crack heard round the world when he “whipped” a pistol from the hand of a jungle guide. At the beginning of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones demonstrated his skills with the holstered fast-draw of a 10-foot bullwhip, all while having to spin around to take aim first.

    “With the popularity of Indiana Jones among western performers, particularly whip artists, it’s odd this hasn’t been done before,” says Deer, who holds multiple, national whip speed and accuracy titles and is the director of The Whip Artistry Studio, the only permanent whip training facility in America.

    The event is sponsored by GLD Enterprises Communications, Ltd.The Whip Artistry Studio and the Annie Oakley Festival Committee. All performances are family-friendly and presented on the grounds of the Annie Oakley Festival. For links to the festival and sneak previews of the performers plus more information go online to ohiowesternarts.org.

    Production video from a few years ago showing some of the events

    Whip cracking, trick roping, knife throwing exhibitions going on throughout the day as well as educational sessions to learn about the Wild West Arts and how these performers are working to keep them alive today.

    FULL SCHEDULE

    Friday:

    • Space opens at 10 AM.
    • Informal workshops, practice, and demonstrations throughout the day.

    1:oo PM American Western Arts Showcase Performance

    • Bass Blades Knife Impalement Show
    • Gery L. Deer – The Whip Artistry Studio Show
    • Special Guests and More!

    4 PM American Western Arts Showcase Performance

    • Bass Blades Knife Impalement Show
    • Gery L. Deer  – The Whip Artistry Studio Show
    • Special Guests and More!

    Saturday:

    • Space opens at 10 AM.
    • Informal workshops, practice, and demonstrations throughout the day.
    • Contest Practice

    12:00 PM American Western Arts Showcase – Whip Marksmanship ContestsWhip Speed & Accuracy Exhibition Contests

    • Speed & Accuracy
    • Speed Switch
    • The World’s FIRST Bullwhip Fast Draw competition – Started in 2000, we’ve been the lead on bullwhip fast draw since!
    • PLUS! The Indiana Jones-styled turning fast draw contest, just like you see in the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Contestants will use an 8-foot or longer bullwhip to face off against each other in an effort to recreate the dramatic first crack by Indiana Jones.

    1:30 PM American Western Arts Showcase Matinee Performance

    • Bass Blades Knife Impalement Show
    • Gery L. Deer  – The Whip Artistry Studio Show
    • Special Guests and More!

    4 PM American Western Arts Showcase Performance

    • Bass Blades Knife Impalement Show
    • Gery L. Deer  – The Whip Artistry Studio Show
    • Special Guests and More!

    Exhibitions and practice sessions are open to public audiences throughout the afternoon.

    Sunday: From 12 Noon until 3:30 PM Gery Deer Indiana Jones-Styled Bullwhip Shows

    Showcase producer Gery Deer will perform solo doing some Indiana Jones-style shows, talking about how the arts practices by Annie Oakley and her contemporaries were so important to the film industry!


  • Studio director, Gery Deer, thrills at Carnegie Music Hall during Indy event

    On Friday June 10, The Whip Artistry Studio director, Gery Deer, performed at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh as part of the “Indiana Jones After Dark at the Museum” for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The hour-long show included targeting, interactive segments and a surprise opening with Gery on the piano performing a comedic “Chopsticks” which rolled into the theme to “Raiders of the Lost Ark” on the hall’s Steinway grand.
    Continue reading 


  • Mark your calendars – 2016 Annie Oakley Western Arts Showcase!

    GREENVILLE, OH –  The Annie Oakley Western Arts Showcase events will be two days this year, Friday July 29 and Saturday, July 30, 2016. All events begin at noon on Friday with open workshops and impromptu demonstrations and a full performance tentatively set for 6PM! On Saturday, everything starts at 1 p.m. with the Whip Contest Exhibition, which will include speed and accuracy, bullwhip fast draw and a style contest.

    Contests will be followed by a matinee performance featuring whip artist Gery L. Deer, the knife throwing skills of Bass Blades and more. The Grand Wild West Showcase will be hosted by The Brothers & Co. Entertainers music and variety show.

    And the best part? This year’s Annie Oakley Event is FREE admission!

    Check out WDTN-TV2’s Katie Kenney with Gery Deer on “Living Dayton” …

    For full details visit http://www.ohiowesternarts.org
    Two great videos highlighting the event – provided by Rich Hoffman …

    “Last year breathed new life into this long-running event,” Deer says. “Our goal is to provide a featured event for Saturday that will help draw more people on what is typically the busiest day of the festival.” For more information or to participate in the whip contests, contact the production office of GLD Enterprises at (937) 902-4857 or email, gdeer@gldenterprises.net.

    For more information on the festival, visit www.annieoakleyfestival.org.


  • Tripple candle snuff explained

    The Whip Artistry Studio: April 15, 2014 – While candle snuffing might seem cliche to many whip artists, studio director, Gery L. Deer, has made it into an art form. His multi-candle snuffs may not be noticed by Guinness Book, but they take skill and practice.

    “The first time I did what we call the ‘candle whippers ™’ routine on national television, I was inundated with questions about which popper I used, or how to glue the candle to the holder, or some other nonsense,” Deer remembers. “The simple fact is, there is no trick to candle snuffing. Anyone can scoop the flame off by splashing the popper into the wax, but to gently snuff the candle out with the wind of the crack takes far more time and patience to learn.”

    In the video shown on this page, Gery is being filmed by videographer Rich Hoffman in a continues, one-shot. Rich is sitting just beyond the stool on which the triple candle setup is arranged.

    Gery set up three, ordinary candles in a triangle configuration, about 4 inches apart from each other. The two votive candles are left over from a world-record attempt by Gery’s friend Robert Dante at the 2013 Annie Oakley Western Arts Showcase.  One of them is sitting on a tin root beer mug and the other flat on the mat that’s covering the top of the wooden stool on which the candles are resting. The third candle is a stick-type, utility candle sitting in a cheap, sterling silver holder.

    Arranged in a triangle, shortest to tallest, the candles are not secured to the surface or holder in any way. The goal was to snuff each candle, one at a time, smoothly, and carefully, regardless of their position or height.

    “It doesn’t matter what kind of popper or whip you use for candle snuffing,” Gery says. “Your level of skill is what matters and how much time you’re willing to put in on it. You also have to keep in mind that the whip should never touch the wax or wick of the candle. Only moving air is necessary to achieve the proper results.”

    The whip being used here is a 6-foot, Indiana Jones style, natural tan (turned brown with age) bullwhip made by Joe Strain around 2001. It’s a rough and rugged piece of equipment and Gery’s favorite whip. It’s his “go to” for just about everything. There’s nothing special about the whip at all. It’s got about a 24-inch fall on it (white hide) and about a 5-inch popper made of upholstery nylon.

    Whip candle snuffing was first done on film in the 1920s by actor Douglas Fairbanks. In “Don Q: Son of Zorro,” Fairbanks snuffed a single flame from a candle held by a bystander. In 1998, Anthony Hopkins appeared to leisurely snuff out candles on a candelabra with a relaxed, practiced hand. Unlike Fairbanks, however, Hopkins’ candles were tricked out by the prop masters with air tubes so all he had to do with crack the whip and the prop guys did the rest, off camera. For this demonstration, the video is unedited and there were students, professionals and bystanders at the studio watching as it was shot.

    Enjoy!




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