Archie St. Clair
Images are sample works. Call or visit OA Gallery for availability.
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Whether it’s a firefighter who puts life at risk to rescue others, a cowboy who takes on the harsh Australian outback, or simply our neighbors who silently and humbly outmaneuver the struggles of everyday life, my goal is to sculpt not only each person’s portrait, but to capture his or her story and spirit. I want my audience to see not only the distinct physical characteristics of my subject but to discover something new and fascinating about his or her character each time they come face to face.
Breathing life into bronze requires my full immersion in each subject. When sculpting wildlife, I employ my experience as a butcher to accurately portray the animal’s form and study hours of video to precisely capture its traits and movements. When memorializing a historical figure, I methodically study his or her background, meeting historians and reading everything possible to create a visual biography of an inspiring leader. Each sculpture is historically, anatomically and dimensionally accurate to ensure uncompromised realism. A horrendous helicopter accident ended my career as a cowboy, butcher and pilot in the outback of Australia, confining me to a wheelchair. Beginning my first foray into sculpting, art evolved into my unexpected destiny, allowing me to reinvent my career and myself. Through my own experience and those of the remarkable, inspiring characters I celebrate in bronze, I hope to inspire people to discover overcoming adversity in the highest degree is very possible. Today, I sculpt commissioned statues and monuments in Australia and the U.S. and feature my personal works at OA Gallery in St. Louis, Mo. The sculptures are as diverse as the subjects – legendary jazzman Miles Davis, the colorful characters of Grapevine, Texas, the founder of Fort Worth, the stockmen of Australia – but in each is the soul of the incredible. |