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“DON’T YOU BOYS KNOW GAMBLIN’S A SIN”

This crusty cook’s been there. He’s thrown down a thousand blankets to while away the time. He’s just ribbing the boys. Nothing he says is gonna change their behavior…he knows that going in. Just funnin’ – and in his salty way lets them know he’s been around.

Gambling was rampant in the old West. Horses, wives, saddles, entire outfits often ended up on the ‘gambling blanket’. All risked on the turn of a card or game of chance.

What is gamblin’? Is it wanting something for nothing? Or, is it more than that? Is it “risk”, buying into an illusion of false hope or living life as a wish?Ever put a quarter in a slot hoping for the big payoff. Or bought a lottery ticket hoping for the millions to rain down. Here is something to ponder….’What if the millions did come?” Does it do anything…really? Or does it just prolong the inevitable crash and back to earth reality of ‘before’? 

Something whispers to me that the reason we are not to covet ‘it’…. is that we couldn’t handle ‘it’ if ‘it’ did come. Else wise we’d already have ‘it’. Is it possible that we have what we have because of who we are?

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 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.”