Archives for Bronze

Personality and Panache

Personality and Panache

November 15, 2018 | by

Hours spent observing wildlife in its natural habitat during his youth in Wyoming instilled in Dan Ostermiller an affinity for animals. Working alongside his well-know taxidermist father, Roy, from early in his childhood gave Ostermiller technical skills that set him apart as a sculptor later in life. But, taxidermy was not something he cared for. “I grew up in that business, but never liked it,” he says. “However, it did give me a lot of tools I needed to become an artist.” Ostermiller never received any formal training, but he knew art was his future, and painting was his initial
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Frederic Remington Treasures

Frederic Remington Treasures

September 15, 2018 | by

Few would argue that Frederic Remington is the most well known name in Western art. And yet, not many people realize the full breadth of his career and how much he accomplished during his life, before he died at age 48. That is something the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, hopes to help change. The museum will pay tribute to Remington when it hosts Treasures From the Frederic Remington Art Museum & Beyond from September 8 to January 13, 2019. Described by Seth Hopkins, the museum’s executive director, as “the largest Remington exhibition ever to come to the
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Three-Dimensional Delights

Three-Dimensional Delights

July 15, 2018 | by

I made my first—and, as I recall, my last—attempts at sculpting when I was in elementary school. Those “works of art” consisted of an ashtray—why, I don’t know; neither of my parents smoked—and an elephant with several holes on its back, strategically placed to hold pencils. I quickly learned that art was not my calling and turned to other endeavors. Fortunately for us, the five artists we feature here did not give up so easily. Of course, they had the talent—and the fortitude—to pursue their dreams of becoming artists and, in the process, have brought immeasurable joy to countless art
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A Lifelong Journey

A Lifelong Journey

May 15, 2018 | by

The first sculpture Bill Nebeker cast was of two mountain men. He had been crafting small clay pieces at his kitchen table in the evenings, after working all day with other artists at George Phippen’s Bear Paw Bronze Foundry in Skull Valley, near Nebeker’s home in Prescott, Arizona. “It was pretty crude,” Nebeker admits. But it sold. So did the others he made after it. It wasn’t long before he was making more selling sculptures than he was at the foundry, so he gave up his job and starting sculpting full time: cowboys, mostly, but also Native Americans and wildlife.
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‘My Best Years are Still Ahead’

‘My Best Years are Still Ahead’

March 15, 2018 | by

The first few years after moving to the United States were the lowest in Mick Doellinger’s life. In 2003, he sold his home, his furniture, his taxidermy business, and his studio in Australia to come to America and become a wildlife sculptor. He certainly hadn’t expected it to be easy, but he didn’t realize how lonely it would be. “I had no resources, no family, no safety net,” Doellinger says. “But I knew that, if I wanted to be a full-time sculptor, the United States was where I needed to be.” He also knew that he couldn’t really go home:
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Doing it His Ways

Doing it His Ways

January 15, 2018 | by

Greg Woodard has been known as a carver, a sculptor and a falconer. He’s worked with wood, clay, bronze, and concrete. And he’s created everything from eagles and buffalo to cowboys and past presidents. “I like adventure,” Woodard admits. “Not many of my pieces are like the last.” One of his recent pieces is a sculpture representing President Ulysses S. Grant and the $50 bill. It’s a concrete column with Grant’s head at the top and then the words on the bill depicted almost like petroglyphs below. Woodard calls it a totem, in part because it represents the importance that
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The Studio of David Lemon

The Studio of David Lemon

July 18, 2017 | by

The old saying that “good things coming in small packages” could very well be applied to the studio in which Montana-based sculptor David Lemon creates his legendary Western bronzes. The intricate design and historically accurate detail in each piece belies the fact that these captivating images are being brought to life in a working space not even as large as the average bedroom, an area that Lemon describes as a “cozy space, one in which he is comfortable responding to his creative muses. David Lemon (Montana) The Protector Bronze 26″ High
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‘Plenty Left to Do’

‘Plenty Left to Do’

July 18, 2017 | by

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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Spiritual Connection

Spiritual Connection

March 18, 2017 | by

Riding, roping, and sculpting are the things Greg Kelsey’s dreams are made of. Deep inside this sculptor beats the heart of a cowboy. He is the intrepid soul who likes to stand on the precipice of the future and hurl himself headlong over the edge to pursue his dreams. If it doesn’t always look real pretty, chalk it up to opportunities—not challenges—that have served well him during his 45 years on this earth. From childhood on, Kelsey was drawn to the natural world, coming from a long line of ranchers and rural dwellers. He also was drawn to art at
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Creative Freedom

Creative Freedom

January 18, 2017 | by

“Right now, I have three life-sized brown bears in my studio,” reports Joshua Tobey, sounding far less perturbed than other people might be under similar circumstances. “I also have three different African table-top pieces in progress. And my job today is to push all that aside and conceptualize a new sculpture for my show in Oregon next month.” Brown bears in the studio, multiple works in various stages of progress, new pieces to dream up, a calendar full of trips to art shows and foundries—it’s a fairly representative slice of the life of the bronze artist, who has been creating
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