(Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

SCULPTING CANADA

Renowned bronze sculptor bringing history to life from Kamloops-based studio

Feb 14, 2020 | 3:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — Bronze sculptures are certainly not the easiest art form, but Nathan Scott considers the craft an ideal blend of mechanical knowledge, and creativity.

The artist has spent 21 years in the field, and if you’ve been to a major city in B.C., or around Canada, there’s a good chance you’ve seen his work.

“Some of the highlights (include) Terry Fox. I did him at Mile Zero, and that was really neat,” Scott says. “Betty and Rolly were in the shop, I got to meet Darrell Fox, and there’s that whole community around Terry Fox. So I never met Terry but I sure know everyone else in his family. And that was really neat — he’s a Canadian hero.”

Scott says he has not exactly spent a lifetime honing this craft — he actually dropped out of art class in the eighth grade. After a decade working in mining and mechanics, before moving to the Island to work on murals, the artist says he eventually picked up a book about sculpting, and taught himself a new career.

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Scott’s first project put into a show was a statue of a gardener, and nine of them were sold through that same event. Six months later, Scott says he got his first public commission.

“I think I’m at a little over 40 public commissions now all over the place.”

Besides the realism of his work, Scott figures this kind of art is appealing to many people because the process is so unique.

“After the sculpting is done, it’ll take about a month to get all these moulds ready. And then it’s called a lost-wax process, and I’ll be doing that all here too. If you look that up it’ll show you the whole process,” he explains. “There’s probably eight different steps to create a bronze, and then once it’s done — it’s a 10,000-year warranty. So it’s here forever. So it’s good.”

To show how it’s done, he has time lapse videos put together of his process, with nearly 1,500 subscribers on his YouTube channel, and some videos getting 93,000 views.

“I keep my camera in the corner, and then when I start sculpting, every four minutes it takes a photo,” he says. “So it’s something very simple, but it’s been very effective in marketing what I do.”

The studio location has now changed from their spot near Victoria, as Scott, his wife, and their five kids fell in love with the Knutsford area, and moved here a year and a half ago from the Island.

“So we were driving through, we picked up a real estate newspaper in Merritt, and by the time we got to the ferry, we decided we were going to move,” explains Scott, who notes that natural beauty of the local landscape is one of his favourite parts. “How the doors opened, it was awesome. And you’ve seen the view. I love it. I can’t believe it — every day is like ‘Pinch me’, it’s wonderful.”

The latest commission is a four-part piece of former Prime Ministers of Canada — John Abbott, John Thompson, Mackenzie Bowell, and Charles Tupper. It’ll be about six months of work put in by the time the figures are ready to be sent to Waterloo, Ont.

When speaking with Scott about the people he’s depicting, it’s clear the artist takes time to really dig into the history of who he’s trying to sculpt and bring to life.

“I call them the unfortunate four,” he says, pointing towards the clay likeness of the four Prime Ministers, “and this is between John A. MacDonald, and Laurier. So John A. MacDonald dies, and then you have six years with four guys. They just seem to drop like flies — from bad health, to death, to resignation, and a snap election.”

For this piece in particular, Scott says there are hidden “Easter eggs” for students, or historically inclined people to find.

“Each guy has about five symbols on him. He might be carrying them, he might have them in a newspaper or what have you, and they tell who he was,” Scott says. “So (for instance) one was a lawyer, one was a judge, one was an entrepreneur, and another one was a doctor. So if you look at each sculpture and you look hard enough, you’ll see these things coming on.”

Once this project is finished, Scott says he has other commissions and personal interest pieces lined up — to be cast out of the artist’s newfound home in the Kamloops area.