Artist Profile: Bryce Pettit

Bryce Pettit

by Zach Hively Photos courtesy of Bryce Pettit

Breathes Life into Animal Sculptures

There is nothing more inert than a hunk of metal. So it’s all the more incredible that Bryce Pettit’s bronze wildlife sculptures feel so full of breath and animation.

“I can’t help but have the animal speak to the story,” Pettit says from his studio in Durango.

Pettit specializes in sculpting creatures found in the Rocky Mountain West – from Monarch butterflies to black bears and from tarantulas to the bull elk. His pieces have been selected as large-scale public works in such places as the Maritime Museum in Michigan and the Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Gardens in Hawaii. But what keeps him creating most is the way animals help him express, as he says, “a deep part of my soul.”

“I love the animals as a subject matter as opposed to human figures,” Pettit says. “For me, the animal is a medium for an artistic shape.”

He explains that a more traditional approach to animal sculpture is to create a model of the animal – taxidermy in bronze, as it were. But his own work is not hyper-realistic; he sculpts figures close enough to real animals that people can relate to them, but loosely enough that they can experience that sense of movement. For instance, Pettit’s sculptures of foxes incorporate swirls in their fur, which are designed to create a mood and a vibe rather than portray literal hair.

“The composition, the form, the movement are far more important than even what the animal subject is,” he says.

Pettit has created his whole life, but he grew up expecting to become something more traditionally serious. Then the summer before he started a PhD program in wildlife ecology, he began showing his artwork – and for the first time, it occurred to him that sculpting could be a great career option.

“I discovered that sculpture was working with my hands combined with painting and drawing, and I was completely hooked,” he says.

He moved to Durango eight years ago and discovered an appreciative art community, a surprise for a town that’s not a huge city. He shows locally at Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Avenue, which displays the full range of his work, from handheld to installation pieces. This is important to him; he believes collecting art should not be an elitist act but something everyone can do on their own scale and in their own way.

“Collecting art makes a difference for all kinds of people, and it enhances their lives,” Pettit says. “I try to always make something for everyone; things that anyone can afford.”