Just spent an incredible weekend in Tucson, Arizona at Settlers West’s fall art show with Janette. We were guests of some friends / collectors and were able to visit, “Chiricahua Apache.” He is loved and well taken care of. There is nothing that touches my heart more than a work of art properly presented and displayed. Grateful to these folks who went “over the top” displaying this work of art.
Installed a casting of “The Trooper” a couple of days ago, outside of Santa Fe. We took the piece out of my pickup and loaded it into this 1947 Willy’s Jeep and maneuvered it into position. Good folks, fun ride. Nothing like nature’s vista to enhance a piece.
The city of St. George, Utah has a foundation called, “Art Around the Corner.” Every spring, for the past 12 years, they invite artists to display works on pedestals throughout the city.
This year, I chose, “All Her Chicks”. She has felt labor pains for more than a week now. Her mind is on hold, for it is her heart that is full…anticipating…loving…feeling. ‘Serving’ is joy, for this mother to be. how fortunate is the babe coming to a home where it is to be nurtured in kindness.
“For Spain, Glory and Gold”30″ high x 17” wide x 16″deep. Edition of 30. This piece has been in the clay for about two years, and is finally comin’ around….maybe!
Then again, maybe it’s me that’s comin’ around.
This is fun to see. I love obscure history. Here’s some examples of authentic armor used for horse heads, hundreds of years ago. With my posting the sculpture of the conquistador, I thought I’d better back it up….for the doubters.
This next piece on the sculpting stand is an idea given to me 7-8 years ago by a collector (I love a great idea). I sat on the idea for a few years. Finally, I got around to roughing it in around 2012…..but then it mostly sat still, until “The Revenant” came out this year. I was inspired to take it off the shelf, and have another “go”…. and push it farther down the road.
Untitled (Open for suggestion) 22″ high x 47″ wide x 16” deep
www.ScottRogersSculpture.com
“THE FORGOTTEN MAN”
One morning, at 6am, I was brought up short seeing a man sleeping on cold asphalt…..he was embracing a bottle of liquor. Where does the mind go with this? “Pity, shame, judgment, step quick and get away from this human debris.” ”What can I do?” “Should I do anything at all?” “How did he let this happen to himself?”
A gentle realization came to me, it was as if I heard a whisper, ”He’s forgotten”. Not that ‘others’ have forgotten, but rather, he’s forgotten himself and has become an island of misery unto himself. Yes! It may take another to show him the way (be an example), but ultimately it is ‘he’ that ‘must remember’. To remember what? To remember that he can exercise the greatest of all gifts…..the ability to choose differently. He can say, “No” to the past. I have felt for years that within the parable of The Prodigal Son, six words hold a secret: “And when he came to himself….”. Could this possibly mean, “and when he awoke to his divine nature”, or, “and when he let go of his ego mind”. Oh, to say, “I have come to my ‘Self’, surrendered to Divine will, and forgotten the natural man.”
I could have easily called this piece….”Judge not the wounded soul”.
SCOTT ROGERS
13″ wide x 3 1/2″ high x 8″ deep
Edition of #30
A dozen years ago….my uncle, Grant Speed, shared with me how to sculpt eyes. Today, I passed that knowledge on to another artist.
“Tête-à-tête”, as the French would say. “Head to Head”.
Softness…is the key. And don’t sculpt the eye. Sculpt vision. Sculpt planes. Sculpt shapes. Sculpt your knowledge of the eye…..not what you think you see. And most important of all, sculpt feelings.
Cleaning off my shelves with another idea that has lingered too long. For me, it’s actually common to rough in a piece and get the jest of an idea down and look at it for years….as a clay sculpture. Don’t judge the piece too harshly, I’ve only sculpted on it about five days over the past three years.
The special part about creating this piece is it’s an idea given to me five or six years ago by a client, who has become a dear friend. In his own right, he has the soul of an artist. On numerous occasions I have heard him talk about his love of the arts and weep while doing so.
If you have a suggestion please send it my way. I’m trying to decide if I should make the person in the canoe a Native American or Mountain Man?
The reason I like it being an Indian is I get to show the human anatomy and not cover it with clothing. That’s straight out of my mentor (Fritz White’s) playbook.
Ok sculpture fans…….and those who can identify with procrastination.
Here’s a piece I’ve had in the clay for seven years. Probably, six of those years I haven’t touched it. It’s just been taking up space in storage units or at my studio. About a month ago my wife said, “Why don’t you finish ‘Not even a whisper’?” I thought, “heck why not!”
I really am considering the title, “Wisdom lives to fight another day”
15″ high x 29″ wide
My website: ScottRogersSculpture.com
What is more American than the bison. Years ago, when I was studying these dudes, it was news to me that they roamed from Canada to Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi River. Legend has it that these animals migrated north to what is now known as “Buffalo Minnesota”, (because it was shallow there), and crossed the Mississippi River to Eastern grazing lands.
This is how you scrub your buffalo…..at the car wash.
Even though I’ve been making small sketches for decades, I never new there was a word for it. The word is BOZZETTI. It means, “a small sketch”. Many artist will use a bozzetti to work out compositional problems for a major work of art.
I wanted to do another poker game and put the setting in a bunk house.
Here is my 45 min sketch. I’ll spend a couple months making it larger.
It’s an amazing experience to finish a piece and then be alone with it. Its often numbing. There comes a quiet that is beyond words. A feeling of expansion takes over….a humility.
Finished.
AMERICAN BISON
Just completed this maquette of a buffalo that will now be enlarged into a 7 ft monument. We all know what I’ll be doing for the next five months. “Buried up to my neck in clay”.
If anyone has a suggestion for a title….please pass it on.
Title suggestions:
American Bison
Thunder Rolls
After a 900 mile ride through the desert, stopped to get the trail dust off this cowboy. We installed this one at a home in Tucson.
Scott Rogers 