Local artist loves his work

Bronze sculpting is sometimes called the art of lost wax.

The metamorphosis of a sculpture from the original piece of art into bronze begins with a mold which is a soft and pliable rubber-like material. Then a rock hard "mother" mold, which is made of plaster, is built around the first mold. The original is then removed from the center and destroyed.

The art can be said to exist as a "negative" within the molds that are put back together. Wax is poured into that empty area and slushed around to create a wax wall about 3/16-inch thick. When the mold is opened and the rubber peeled away an almost perfect wax reproduction is revealed.

When the wax "positive" is free of any imperfections, the artist signs the piece. "Investment" is the process of building a ceramic shell around the wax sculpture. When the "positive" wax disappears through a heating process the cavity created is filled with molten bronze.

Devesting is the process of removing the ceramic from the bronze. The final surface finishing is done with a sandblaster or wire brushes and then patination is begun. The process of patination is the application of chemicals that react with the clean surface of the bronze. Patination not only gives coloration to the piece but also protects the surface of the bronze.

Scott Lennard, a bronze sculptor who lives in Libby, has his pieces cast at a foundry in Kalispell and he makes several visits to the foundry during the process to preserve his art through supervision.

When Scott Lennard was growing up in Michigan he didn't like art classes in school. He didn't draw pictures or make things from clay. What he did like was the outdoors, hunting and fishing and hiking. He came to Montana with his grandfather when he was about 12 and always dreamed of coming back.

Although Lennard was exposed to taxidermy in his teens and was fascinated with the idea of preserving wildlife he went to work after school as a carpenter. When the economy in Michigan took a dive in the 1980's, Lennard and his wife used the adversity as a chance to start over in Montana.

They settled near Helena and Lennard enrolled in Carroll College choosing a career in medical records which he believed would provide him with job security. Then he met a man working as a taxidermist and Lennard was lured from the boredom of job security to the fascinating world of art.

Taxidermy is not a lucrative occupation and Lennard found himself facing another move back to Michigan. He wanted to spend one last week hunting bear with his dad before leaving his Montana dreams behind.

Lennard believes that God had a hand in the events that occurred during that hunting trip to Libby.

Lennard noticed a building in town named, Trails West Art Gallery. He thought it would have made a great taxidermist shop and display room. That the building had the same name as the taxidermy outfit he worked with seemed more than a coincidence to him. He decided, just out of curiosity, to stop at the Libby Chamber of Commerce to find out how many taxidermists were in the Libby area. Only two. Then, just on an impulse, he stopped at DeShazer's Realty and was dumbfounded when he learned the Trails West Gallery was for sale. Lennard brought his wife back to Libby to scout out the possibilities and against his Dad's advice not to jump into anything, he did. They bought the gallery and a house and began the journey of a lifetime.

Although Lennard was finding success as a taxidermist he was frequently experiencing flu-like symptoms. As he became more and more lethargic and weak he began to suspect the chemicals he used in his taxidermy work were making him sick. Again, adversity proved to be a blessing for Lennard. While doing taxidermy, he had begun creating molds taxidermists use to stretch their skins over. He discovered he not only enjoyed working with mediums for sculpting the molds but that he had a latent talent that he was beginning to tap into. Again, Lennard's endeavors were stymied when he learned the chemicals in the clays he used for sculpting were making him sick. Lennard and his wife overcame yet another roadblock with their can-do determination and she learned to make a clay medium, which doesn't make him sick, by using beeswax.

Lennard makes most of his sales in January each year at the Safari Club International in Reno, Nev. The past few years a big seller was a bronze "boot" that a large elephant tusk can be displayed in. Those boots sell for several thousand dollars, but he says the individuals who attend those shows have that kind of money to spend. This year Lennard purchased a larger trailer to haul his bronze wares to the Reno show. One of his larger items could bring him a check for $45,000.

The strange vocabulary of bronze art could be applied to the twists of fate in Lennard's life. Certainly there were periods of molding and positives that became negatives that had to be filled again and protected with rock-hard shells before he could reflect.

"You know how sometimes people look at someone else and say that guy has it made? Well, I think I do have it made. I walk a few steps from my house to my studio, where I make a living doing what I love most in the most beautiful place in the world. I am a very lucky man and I know it," Lennard admitted.