TEAM of ARTISTS

Sculptor Bryce Pettit and a crew of artisans illuminate the bronze process in Utah.

Art is seen as a solitary endeavor. Something artists toil away on in complete isolation. And when they emerge from the darkness of their studio, they are holding a completed artwork that is ready to be sent out into the world.

Sculptors certainly can work this way, but if they ever want their clay artwork turned into a more permanent material-like, say, bronze-then they must enlist the help of other artists and artisans, sometimes a whole fleet of them, at one of the bronze art foundries that dot North America.

Recently, Colorado sculptor Bryce Pettit invited us to visit his main bronze art foundry, Art City Bronze (formerly Baer Bronze Fine Art Foundry) in Springville, Utah. The biggest takeaway I had from the experience of watching his magnificent sculpture move its way through the process was that bronze art casting requires a team effort from people who are skilled in a vast variety of processes. Pettit's clay work is the source, and ultimately the guiding light, but he entrusts others to do what they do best to create a work of art in metal that is as close as possible to his version in clay. Even after seeing it all happen firsthand, it still looks like magic.

"Every part of the process is an art form," says Jeffrey Wright, president and owner of Art City Bronze. "And that's what makes it all work."

For your enjoyment, with many thanks to Wright and Pettit, here is a photographic journey into the bronze process as we follow Pettit's large bronze eagle, Vertical Limit, from clay to finished bronze.