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“CALIFORNIA ARGONAUT”

Ever’ once in a while, I’ll fancy myself a wordsmith. I love to find examples of yesteryear whereupon just hearing the sound of a word, takes me back in time and feeling. ‘Argonaut’ is one such example, and…..the use of  “Californ’y” quickly puts both a time period and a mentality on its user.

Argonaut: “A person in quest of something dangerous but rewarding, an adventurer.”

Never was a word used more appropriately, in the context of one who left the comforts of hearth and home, often wife and children, to brave a 3000-mile trek on foot or a 14,000-mile sea voyage around Cape Horn, only to reach the long-sought destination and face privations, austere living, loneliness, and thieves, often at cost of one’s life.

Note: The Argonaut Mine, in Jackson, California, was discovered in 1850 and operated until 1942. It reached a vertical depth of 5,570 feet produced 25 million in gold.

SCOTT ROGERS

Scott Rogers’ love affair with bronze began when he bought a bronze sculpture from his uncle, Grant Speed. Six months later in October of 1990, he came home from work one day, looked at that bronze, and said, “I can do that”. He sought counsel at the hands of master teachers, 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’.”

Scott Rogers loves what he does and portraying the Old West. “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.”

“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.”