Archives for Bronze

Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes

June 6, 2024 | by

Wyoming sculptor and painter, J. C. Dye, says an artist needs two lifetimes: one to master the art of sculpting and painting and another to reap some rewards. As a 76-year-old who has enough experience to fill at least two lifetimes, one reward is being recognized as one of the top sculptors in the United States. He’s earning kudos for his paintings as well, something he turned to when foundries began closing, and he found himself waiting up to a year to have a sculpture cast. Dye’s years as a rancher provided with him with intimate knowledge of the cowboy
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The Composer

The Composer

April 10, 2024 | by

The year is 1841, and the sounds of men and animals fill the streets of what would one day become Omaha, Nebraska, as the first serious group of pioneers sets out along the Oregon Trail. From high atop a rearing horse, a wagon master calls to the party of covered wagons, urging the travelers through a dry creek bed and toward a new life out West. This is not a scene from a new Taylor Sheridan television series; it’s a six-block-long monumental installation in downtown Omaha, something Utah-based sculptor Blair Buswell has been contributing to for the past 20 years.
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Talent and Tradition

Talent and Tradition

February 8, 2024 | by

Ed Natiya’s Indigenous and Native American sculptures and monuments have earned him a reputation as one of the best sculptors of his kind. In 2016, for instance, he won the top prize in sculpture at the Southwestern Association for Indian Art (SWAIA) Indian Market—the largest Native American art show in the world, attended by 100,000 at its annual gathering in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In March, he’ll have one of his larger-than-life monuments on display at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. The Briscoe doesn’t ordinarily take large pieces but, in Natiya’s case, it made an exception.
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‘I Have to Explore’

‘I Have to Explore’

October 12, 2023 | by

Wildlife sculptor Tim Cherry is constantly finding new ways to delight the eye. “I’ve kind of reinvented myself in the last three years,” says the artist, whose lyrical interpretations of animals have earned him many honors and a devoted following during his 35-year career. “The work I’m doing now is a little more contemporary, a little brighter in color than my past work, and I’m incorporating a natural sandstone from Colorado’s Front Range into my bases more often. I’m very excited about the results I’m getting.” A natural evolution of Cherry’s trademark style, this change was not born out of
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One Step at a Time

One Step at a Time

August 10, 2023 | by

Paul Rhymer had just received one of the biggest honors of his artistic life, and he was making those noises humble people make—noises that sound an awful lot like, “Why did they pick me?” In this case, “they” would be the folks who organize and conduct the annual Birds in Art event in Wausau, Wisconsin, who selected Rhymer as Master Wildlife Artist of 2023. A longtime attraction of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Birds In Art has included works by thousands of avian artists from around the world. Most years—not all—they select a Master Wildlife Artist. And
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The Studio of Gerald Balciar

The Studio of Gerald Balciar

June 15, 2023 | by

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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Big Vision, Big Energy

Big Vision, Big Energy

June 15, 2023 | by

To truly appreciate a piece of Brenna Kimbro’s art, you first have to back up, way up, taking in the full scope of the thing. Then you have to get up really close, cheek to jowl, observing the fine details that comprise the entire creation. Zoom out, panning from nose to tail; zoom in, picking up the dancing of hooves, the flare of a nostril. These paintings and sculptures, many of them larger than life, are the work of an artist who clearly has no reservations about taking up space. “My tendency is to make things enormous,” Kimbro says. “I
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‘The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get’

‘The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get’

May 4, 2023 | by

“It’s another day in paradise,” says sculptor and gallery owner Ken Rowe, savoring his view of Sedona, Arizona’s, snowcapped mountains. “We’ve been here 28 years now, and I never tire of it.” A self-described Arizona boy through and through, Rowe was born in Phoenix to an electrical engineer and an amateur painter—a combination Rowe credits as foundational to his art. “Growing up, without even knowing it, I had this wonderful influence of the mechanical aspect of life through my dad’s career and the artistic pursuits from my mother’s side.” Although his mother never made a career of her painting, she
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Inspired by Nature

Inspired by Nature

January 5, 2023 | by

After more than 40 years as an artist, Margery Torrey has sculpted a myriad of subjects. She’s done pigs, puffins, and people. She’s created eagles and antelope. She’s designed a full-on steeplechase scene with multiple horses racing for the prize. Until last summer, however, she had never sculpted a sailboat. Even so, she didn’t hesitate to accept the commission when it came. It was a request from the children of a dear friend and was intended to be a gift for their father’s 85th birthday. “When she asked me about it, his daughter said, ‘We know it’s not what you
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Poignant Moments

Poignant Moments

November 3, 2022 | by

Colorado-based low relief sculptor J.D. (Jeremiah) Welsh spent much of the past year working in secret. The award-winning member of the National Sculpture Society (NSS) is no stranger to producing complex works on tight deadlines, but he poured many months and 23 years’ worth of skill into one special, small object: the Brookgreen Medal. “I honestly never thought I’d have the chance to do it,” Welsh says of the medal, which honors the prestigious Brookgreen Gardens sculpture garden in South Carolina and is presented to artists who ear the Anna Huntington Hyatt Award at the NSS’ annual awards exhibition. It
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