| OCR Text |
Show NATURE IN BRONZE The Wildlife Sculpture of Clark Bronson Sketching wildlife came naturally to Clark Bronson-as naturally as his knowledge of the creatures of the wild. The son of a Utah game warden. Bronson frequently tagged along on his father's field trips. He acquired the skills of tracking animals and birds, often for days, without disturbing their natural behavior. At the age of eight or nine he began sketching the creatures he saw. Now in his mid-thirties, Bronson has never lost his fascination for the outdoor world. Although his recent outings have carried him beyond his native Utah, to Alaska and other parts of Western America-and his companions are usually his wife, Pauline, and their four children, his enthusiasm for tracking and observing wild game is undiminished. COUGAR STRATEGY Art West Spring 1978 From those early childhood sketches, Bron son progressed through oil and watercolor t Spooked, portrays a herd of elk racing away Whatever his subject, each muscle, hair wildlife sculptor. He has earned three silver medals from the National Academy of Western Art at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and membership in many prominent art associations and societies. But Clark Bronson is a quiet man. He accepts his successes graciously and modestly. He speaks of his life as a series of natural happenings, of opportunities seized and risks taken. He has little to say about the ten and twelve hour days spent modeling the detail of an eagle talon or an elk hoof, or in the careful supervision of each individual bronze casting. The few words Bronson does speak concern the animals and birds which are his subjects. What he has seen and learned about the ways of nature he shares with others through his illustrations and sculpture. What he sees is drama. Both humor and terror are captured in his sculpture. It's Mine. an early work, portrays a grizzly cub cradling a fish dinner snatched from a hastily abandoned fishing creel. Bronson's most recent sculpture. that his finished sculpture convey his exact vision to the viewer. Most of Clark Bronson's knowledge of art has been acquired through observation and practice. As a boy, he collected calendars and illustrations by noted artists such as John Cly-mer and Walter Wildwerding. He took what few art courses were offered in high school and continued to learn by careful attention to the techniques of others and by his own trial and His first thought of choosing wildlife illustration as a career came from a salesman for an art correspondence course. "Til then I didn't know I could make a living drawing and painting-doing what I wanted to do," Bronson process and was later chosen to illustrate the wildlife portion of the instruction book. Then, he studied at the University of Utah. His academic career, however, was short-lived. INTO THE WOODS The editor of the Utah Fish and Game publication persuaded Bronson to illustrate a brochure on mule deer. That assignment led to another and then to a full-time job with the Utah agency and requests for illustrations from other similar publications. In those first three years as a professional illustrator, Bronson's work was published in more than 13 wildlife publications. Magazines such as Sports Afield and National Wildlife also solicited his illustrations. In 1965, Bronson illustrated a children's book. The Album of North American Animals. That album was to become the first of a four book series for which Bronson produced more than 400 watercolor illustrations. Although in 1969, at age 30, Bronson was a successful wildlife illustrator by anyone's measure, he sought a more expressive medium in which to portray the actions and drama of nature. "I had the idea of doing a sculpture for quite a while. One day I just started and did it. I haven't lifted a watercolor brush since," Bronson said. As with his previous media, Bronson's skills in sculpting were self-developed. His tools also are homemade, designed to fit his particular needs. "None of the tools that were available worked just right. It was easier to make my From Bronson's first sculpture of a Rocky Mountain Big Horn sheep in 1970, it has been evident that Bronson's talent for portraying wildlife is adaptable to any medium. Each of the 42 sculptures he has completed exhibits the exacting detail of posture, muscle, structure and movement characteristic of Bronson's style. That style has made Bronson one of the most popular wildlife artists in America. In fact, John Clymer, the noted illustrator Bronson studied as a youth, is now a collector. How does the artist capture the exact pose of an eagle talon or the angle of a mallard's wing in flight? "After you've seen those things for quite awhile, you just know," Bronson re-plies, seeming a bit surprised at the question. To Clark Bronson such knowledge seems natural. However, after the image is formed in the artist's mind careful planning and long hours of detailed work are required to render the idea first in clay and finally in bronze. Bronson often spends as long as three months on a single sculpture. During the days spent in the field filming and photographing wildlife, the idea for a sculpture takes shape in the artist's mind. From a series of sketches and detailed photographs Bronson makes a small model to perfect the composition and balance before the final sculpture is attempted. Although he works from photograph, in the studio and foundry, in summer Bronsc sketch and memory, Bronson's insistence on with his family, will be off to a wilderness an quently he works with a live model, be it a trout cord with its seasons. He accepts his success or a mallard drake brought into the studio. gracefully and does not speculate on where I He also supervises each casting. Since talents and interests may lead him in the futu moving his family to Bozeman. Montana, in For now, he will continue to observe the v construction of his new foundry, Big Sky Cast- share his vision ¦ >rking days SKYWARD BOUND |
