“WITH MY BOOKS BATTALIONED AROUND ME”

 On the nightstand, by my bed, are at least four books I’m reading….at the studio are another two or three. Easily, in my bookcase, seven or eight new volumes wait for me to give audience to their words. It’s amazing the relationship one can have with bound paper and ink. Just like people, some I cherish and hold as old dear friends. Some have a depth to them that I barely grasp.

When I go into a bookstore and take a book off the shelf, would it surprise you to know that I often just hold it….and listen to my feelings. Most of the time I’ll get a vibe as to whether the book is one I’ll enjoy or not. It’s uncanny, 95% of the time, that vibe is accurate.

Is it possible that reading is a form of waking meditation? Do we choose books that allow us to tap into realms of existence which, to fully experience as a human being, are frightening (war, love, conflict, truth), but as words on a page are manageable?  How many of us set down with a book and get lost in another world….perhaps another dimension outside of time? It’s almost as if we become the characters within a volume of typed words….perhaps on some level we do! I love reading such that a book disappears and I find myself wrapped in feelings….and my body ceases to exist for a moment. Perhaps ‘that’ is what’s real. I love getting to a part of a book that makes me weep. At such moments, I generally want to be alone, emotionally visiting a place within myself that feels safe to shed tears, and heal.

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.”