News
Joseph, Ore. finds gold in bronze – Statue-casting industry replaces timber mills
Residents of this mountain community used to be cowboys and lumberjacks. Now they make bronze statues of cowboys and lumberjacks.
Associated Press
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595047933,00.html
Joseph is flourishing as a center of bronze statue casting, an industry supporting three foundries, several studios, art galleries and other businesses in this town settled by migrants who traveled the Oregon Trail.
Men who once felled trees now deal in delicate wax molds. Gone are the logging trucks, chain saws and timber mills. In came pastel "patina" paints, deals with galleries in Santa Fe and New York, and subscriptions to Artweek magazine.
In a town of around 1,000 people, more than 100 are employed in the bronze statue business.
Some of their works are displayed on both sides of Main Street — cowboys, an Indian chief, a rearing stallion and a crouching mountain lion.
The bronze business is a boon in this sparsely populated part of northeastern Oregon; Wallowa County has consistently reported the state’s highest unemployment rate at around 17 percent, largely because of the travails of the timber industry.
Like other businesses, bronze casting — mostly in Western-themed subjects — weathered a blow during the recession. At least one gallery closed, but bronze art is still the town’s largest employer after government.
It is, say those in the business, the economic savior of Joseph.
"The art business is the best example of an entrepreneur possible," said Gary Parmenter, manager of Parmenter Studios of Joseph, one of the larger shops in town. "Out of nothing, he makes something that is viable."
The city’s unlikely transformation into a hot spot for bronze art began in the mid-1980s, as the town’s two timber mills were closing. It was a glum time for Joseph. Merchants shuttered their shops on Main Street. Homes stood vacant as families moved out.
Tourists visiting the nearby Eagle Cap Wilderness area or picturesque Wallowa Lake often blew through town without stopping at the lone grocery store, or bothering to stroll along the chipped wooden sidewalks, recalled Parmenter.
Glenn Anderson, a former resident and collector, is credited with bringing bronze foundries to Joseph. He and artist David Manuel opened the Valley Bronze foundry in 1982 with proceeds from the sale of three statues depicting Nez Perce Indian leaders.
Through the 1980s, supporting businesses opened to "chase," or polish, cast bronze parts, weld parts into statues, and to handle the many plaster and wax models used in bronze casting.
A second foundry, Joseph Bronze, opened to take spillover orders. A third, Park Bronze, opened in nearby Enterprise. Rather than bring in employees from outside, the foundries hired laid-off timber workers.
At first, Parmenter said, longtime residents were dubious of the art world forming in their midst.
"They were skeptical about who we were and what we were, but they’ve accepted us pretty well," he said. "Small towns have to live off what they can get."
Two large galleries, a bookshop and a restaurant replaced the shuttered businesses. The Baptist church on Main Street adorned its entryway with a bronze frieze of Jesus.
And the foundries have landed some prestigious orders recently.
This year, Valley Bronze completed a $2.4 million order from the federal government for bronze wreathes, armatures and flagpoles for the national World War II monument scheduled to open on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., in May.
Valley Bronze cast a pair of monumental bulls unveiled last August at Reliant Stadium in Houston, home of the Texans NFL franchise and site of this year’s Superbowl.
Most of the bronze art in Joseph tends toward Western themes. Galleries display Indian warriors on horseback, playful bear cubs, rugged Western men and frontier women.
And clients and tourists are coming.
One customer enamored by the delicate female figurines sold at Parmenter’s studio flew into Joseph on a private jet in the late 1990s to purchase works, which sell from $5,000 to more than $300,000.
Such high rollers aren’t so common these days.
At the Joseph Bronze foundry, manager Rob DeSpain stands beside a sputtering propane torch used to heat bronze ingots to thousands of degrees to pour into molds. The shop is still busy, but business is off 40 percent since last year because of the recession, DeSpain said.
One effect is that most statues are smaller now, he said. They tend toward the cheaper one-third or one-fifth of life-size, rather than true-to-life sizes.
Still, he can employ 26 people to pour, weld and grind the art into shape in the foundry beside a hay field, a driveway holding a decrepit-looking tractor, and cow pastures on the edge of town.
On the Net:
MATR Supporters (view all)
Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.