“A NIGHT IN JUAREZ”

Ever had a hankerin’ satisfied…by bein’ roughed up by it?

I visualize a cowman…young in years… who worked his way across the border from Texas (Tejas) into old Mexico….just to see what was on the other side.  He happens into a rough town and an even rougher cantina.  Looks were exchanged…perhaps a crossword…he didn’t have to skin very deep before he hit bear.  

I could’ve easily called this piece “Bad Whiskey, Short Tempers, and Wild Men”. Maybe I’ll save that one for another sculpture.

Most of the bars and saloons Hollywood portrays did not exist.  In the ‘real’ Old West, it was often dank places consisting of sod huts, dirt floors,  old barrels with 2 x 12 planks laying on top.  One may of heard the cackling of chickens, both inside and out. The whiskey found in such places was often made of anything that would ferment and have a bite to it.

SCOTT ROGERS

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

It seems like only yesterday that I bought a bronze from my uncle, Grant Speed.  My love affair with bronze had begun. Six months later (in October of ’90) I came home from work, looked at that bronze, and said, “I can do that”. I sought and continue to seek counsel at the hands of master teachers (i.e. studied with Fritz White CA, Stanley Bleifeld, Herb Mignery CA, Mehl Lawson CA, and Grant Speed CA).

My desire is to use art as a vehicle to inspire mankind to see the beauty of life. Artists’ are prone to leave emotional fingerprints all over their work; hence, what you’ll be seeing, in a way are self-portraits. I love how shape, line, and form communicate. Every line has a spirit and speaks volumes. Put a lump of clay in my hands and a short while later you’ll know exactly how I feel and physically see my soul. I am finding that the key to life is to develop eyes to see what is really ‘there’.

I love what I do. The feelings I portray about the ‘Old West’ I’ve had all my life. I remember fondly the hours spent as a youth reading of renegades, rebels, rogues, outlaws, wild men and horses, ferocity, passion, power, cunning, independence, honor, loneliness, fear, rage, courage, and freedom. These words worked their way into my soul and now find expression through my fingers in clay. The ‘West’ was about men and women who had the courage, who were part of something bigger than themselves. I find great pleasure in doing these people justice by creating a fair portrayal of their characters.

When beginning a piece, the first thing I do is isolate an emotion I know intimately. An emotion that pulls at my heart, one that makes me hold my breath, an emotion so strong it becomes overwhelming and is physically draining to experience. If the emotion doesn’t command my rapt attention it is quickly dismissed. In creating “a moment” I do it in such a way that you (the viewer) have no choice but to play an active part and put yourself in the scene as the character depicted or as a first-hand witness.

I sculpt feelings and not reality. In fact, to me the words sculpture and feelings are synonymous. I love it when someone says, after viewing one of my pieces, “I can feel the bullet hitting him”; “I feel like I’m on the back of the bucking horse” or “I can hear the roar of the stampede”.

I know art uplifts the spirit, it makes one want to be better, to feel good about themselves and their fellow man, to reach out for that which is good in life. It’s my wish that you experience some of what I feel through my art.