When we last spoke with wildlife sculptor Gerald Balciar in 2017, he was excited about developing a new bronze patina to capture the distinctive hue of bluebirds. The birds nest in the many boxes that Balciar and his wife Bonnie have placed around their 10-acre ranch in Parker, Colorado. “Oh yes, I’ll be doing more and more bluebirds,” he said at the time. Six years later, Balciar has made good on that promise. When we caught up with him to learn about his studio—a 40′ x 60′ metal pole barn with seven rooms—the 80-year-old artist was in the process of
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Gerald Balciar and his wife Bonnie start every day with a walk around their property. They loop around the 10-acre plot near Parker, Colorado, three times, weaving between the trees they planted when they moved there 26 years ago. As they walk, Balciar counts bluebirds. “Most days we see eight or 10 of them,” he says. “When I get an idea, I grab a magic marker, a crayon, whatever I can find, and quickly sketch it out,” he says. “Sometimes, I just write it out. If I don’t, I’ll forget it, and I don’t want to do that.” Balciar has
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