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“THE HIGH PASS”

Historical records tell of travelers fretting to ‘get through the mountains’ before winter snows set in. Sometimes, passing through a mountain corridor could take weeks. Becoming trapped in a high pass from an early snow was a valid burden held in the minds of early settlers heading west. Let your mind ponder a bit and you can you feel their angst. The possibility of Indians attacking, starvation, privation of comforts and battling nature’s elements held sway in the minds of many and restrained some from ever attempting a venture to new lands. What a lot of people don’t realize is that most folks who traveled West (early in our nation’s history) had never been more than 30 miles from their ancestral homes. At that time, going West (2000 miles), was the equivalent of being one of the first to travel to the moon. ‘Not making it’ or ‘dying in the process’ was a real possibility.

I feel a lot of people don’t realize what a ‘high pass’, in life, looks like. How does one come to recognize a ‘moment’ when life simultaneously extends a pivotal opportunity to advance, camouflaged as a daunting obstacle to conquer? I ask myself, “When was I presented a ‘high pass’ and said, ‘no’?” What project or relationship did I quit on prematurely? What talent did I chose not to develop because someone else didn’t believe in me or I stopped believing in myself? Did I choose my vocation, place to live or car I drive by ‘default of circumstance’, or did I push through a high pass with a ‘conscious choice’ to fertile valleys below? Question: “What does one choose the instant they say ‘no’ to an opportunity offered by the heart?” That nothing will change!

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.”