Since my interest in art began at a very early age, I assume that this sort of thing must be instinctive or inherited. When watching our children Hannah and Luke, this is confirmed in my mind because. like me, they spend most of their free time doing something creative or constructive - drawing, building or designing something in the garage.

They're the ones who win the coloring contest at the local supermarket when literally hundreds of children color in the same simple line design. I have no idea how they do it. The same is true for me. I have no idea when my artistic talent actually developed, except to say that it seems to me it has always been there.

I have been sculpting off and on for many years, but, until recently, only as a hobby. Some people might think this weird, but as a young person growing up in Arkansas. I was a hunter and had an interest in taxidermy. Funny that a love of and dedication to wildlife should start out with killing them, but that's my story.

Of course, the procedure of mounting something involves skinning an animal and then placing the treated and preserved skin over a model of their form. These days, the forms are available ready-made as foam injections, but in the old days, they were created individually out of wood, wire, tow or excelsior (wood shavings) and sculpting clay.

There was a great deal of creativity involved. I'm sure everyone has seen a bad mount of an old deer head in a funky bar or cabin that looks more like a donkey with antlers. Obviously, the idea was to create a realistic image of the living animal. These were certainly not sculptures per se, but I did a tremendous amount of work in potter's clay when I was as young as 10.

Real sculptures, done for their own sake, came in later years, when I was in my 20s. Those half-hearted attempts were usually when I visited a friend who was working on their own clay or wax or marble sculpture and I played around in their studio as we visited. Actually, as long ago as 1968, I did a little Dall sheep wax model with a friend in Fairbanks, Alaska. But, because there are only so many hours in a day, and since I always had more filming projects at any given time than I could complete, I did not allow myself the freedom to explore it more fully at that time.

That changed for me about three years ago when I met Mike and Vicky Maiden and toured their facilities at Maiden Foundry, which are outside of Portland in Sandy, Oregon. I was impressed and excited with what he was doing and, luckily, at a stage in my successful career of filmmaking where I could give serious scuplting some time and attention. Since then, we have worked together to develop what I think is an impressive body of work for a relative beginner. It's been great fun.

To brag just a little, I think I have a terrific eye for the shapes in nature. Maybe it came from studying all that bad taxidermy forty years ago. Surely it has something to do with a million hours spend looking at animals and birds moving around over the barrel of a gun or through the lens of a camera. And then even more time is spent going through the filmed material over and over and over on screens and monitors.

Amazing as it seems, even to me, IÕve been doing just that for thousands and thousands of hours, for decade after decade! I assume that I've learned something from all that which makes it very natural for me to look at a sculpture as it's taking shape and instantly know whether it's right or wrong.

In fact, my whole life has been spent watching wildlife and paying attention to all the little details. Whether as a hunter or as a photographer, I just love to watch how wild things move around. When we edit a film sequence, the animal's body parts must be in the same position from one scene to the next or the cut "jerks" to your eye.

The viewer does not even know what happened, just that it did not "feel" right. Do that enough and you will not have an audience. But even more importantly to me, if I were sloppy or inaccurate, I would not be proud of myself and my accomplishments.

After all, I say jokingly, I am pretty selfish. The films we've done and, recently, the sculptures we've done, I did for myself. I do what fascinates me and create projects around things that I love. I learned and have just come to assume that if it feels true and real and good to me, then other people will love it, too. Again, I don't know how I figured out to do it like that...it just happened along the way.

My motivation for sculpting is a quest for the satisfaction which comes from expressing myself creatively. It has to do with creating an object of interest or power or humor or beauty, of which I can be proud and which I can share with others for their appreciation. That definition is probably the first time I have ever put it into words.

Up until now, I've just done what I've wanted to do. I do what I do as I follow my bliss. I create for the sake of creating. The thought never crossed my mind to not do it, so I did it.

I've had plenty of other jobs doing construction or repairing cars, cutting timber or building furniture. But I never really loved any of them like I love creating art. I built a house for our family some years and I'm really proud of it, so maybe a project needs to be personal like that for me to really derive the ultimate joy from doing it. Maybe that's why I love art so much. What I do is always personal.

The first limited edition sculptures I have created will be unveiled in August of this year at a sculpture conference in Orlando, Florida. These first pieces have been two years in the making and I have enjoyed the process so much that we are already planning and working on new pieces.

For me, the whole process of planning, designing, sculpting, casting, assembling and finishing a sculpture is very familiar. Like making a film, the effort is collaborative and so, by necessity, there are many skilled people are involved in many different capacities. Yet, there is ultimately only one artist, so it is also very individual. For me, sculpting has all the same stages of creation as producing a film - only the elements are very different. The same but different...how's that for a paradoxical definition?

I love producing sculptures and plan to do as many more as I can. I know that Mike and Vicky feel the same, so I look forward to working with them more in the future..

Click the images for a larger view.

	"Barely Possible" Treed Cubs 24" x 13" x 24" s /n 100	$6,084
	"Battle Plan" Butting Rams 28" x 8" x 16" s /n 200	$4,680
	"Cathedral Cliffs" Climbing Rams 15" x 12" x 31" s /n 100	$5,940
	"Current Affair" Otters 12" x 12" x 24" s /n 100	$4,886
	"Lord Grizzly" Grizzly Bear 14" x 11" x 18" s /n 300	$2,730
	"Now What?" F lying Squirrel 13" x 9" x 25" s /n 200	$4,290
	"Nutty Buddies" Dancing Chipmunks 10" x 7" x 18" s /n 200	$3,900
	"Sixth Sense" Elk 8" x 4" x 8" s /n 300	$3,315
	"Sleek Streaks" Rabbits 7" x 4" x 6" s /n 300	$1,230

For purchasing information please email sculptures@wildamerica.com