Winter Run

As of December 1, 2008 at least one of the following sculptures is currently finished and available:

Peace at the Border

ã2008 by Ross Matteson bronze 15 h x 11 w x 7 d (inches) edition size: 50 price: $3,200

Peace at the Border depicts a life-sized mourning dove on a decaying fence post that just happened to catch a few leaves.

What I know about a dove's behavior and form comes from touching and observing them. The use of the dove as a metaphor for addressing contemporary issues relates directly to this “hands on”, experience with them. There is nothing original in using a beautiful, graceful dove as a symbol of life and peace. But combined with the current political emphasis on borders and fences, I see many unique possibilities for using the dove as a compositional focal point. It is comforting to think about solutions to border issues being based on understanding and mutual respect – whether in the Middle East or between neighboring ranches separated by decaying wooden fence posts in the fields of the American West.

Sculpture by Ross Matteson

Creeper

ã2008 by Ross Matteson bronze 6 long x 2 high x 1.5 wide (inches) open edition. price: $850 per bird plus support form

Creeper is a wall mountable bronze that is available with a pointing up or pointing down attachment system. It is the consumate LBB -- Little Brown Bird. Perhaps, Little Bronze Bird can also apply!

Sculpture by Ross Matteson

Falco Peregrinus

ã2006 by Ross Matteson bronze 77 h x 38 w x 12 d (inches) edition size 20 please call for price information

Falco Peregrinus is another of my bronze sculptures that finds itself suspended by different support forms with each new casting. I call the version shown above, Falco Peregrinus - Over the Rainbow.

Kansas farmers in the 1860's were up against tough open range laws and the obvious dearth of trees from which to make fence posts. When I first acquired this old Kansas limestone post, I had a plan to carve a perched red-tailed hawk out of the stone itself. The size, shape, fossils and beauty of the un-carved stone quickly encouraged a fresh approach in simply utilizing it as a special support form for this bronze peregrine falcon.

Sculpture by Ross Matteson

Prairie Queen

ã2002 by Ross Matteson bronze 18 h x 24 w x 19 d (inches) edition size 20 Price: $8,500

Prairie Queen is a large, warm gyrfalcon perched on a partially buried buffalo skull. While on winter migration, in what most humans would think of as a cold, harsh landscape, she preens her feathers almost as if in the intimacy of a bedroom. The metaphor of the skull, a Western metaphor for hardship, has no meaning to her. She is above it. It is only a perch on the open prairie. Her royal life is presently affirmed by the absence of death in her thought.

Sculpture by Ross Matteson

Sunset Stoop

ã2008 by Ross Matteson bronze, stainless steel and granite 21 h x 13 w x 4.5 w unique in series $3,200