Sculptor of bronze follows in footsteps of old masters

"Go to the best and learn from them." That's the adage that drives the career of Mischell Riley, sole proprietor of Bronze by Mischell, established in 1993.

Her work has been commissioned by banks, hospitals, libraries, historic societies, downtown development authorities, and housing divisions with golf courses.

She also accepts private commissions for portraiture busts.

Casting bronze requires a foundry and that costs money, so 99 percent of the pieces that get cast are commissioned, she says, and "everybody wants it yesterday." Pieces are currently shipped to foundries in other states for the molten bronze pour, but the initial steps take place at a 3,000- squarefoot foundry adjacent to the studio location.

The foundry,Nevada Bronze LLC, is owned by Brian Trekell, a manufacturer of artist paintbrushes.

Bobbi Scaffidi, foundry manager and Amy Scaffidi, production manager, handle the jobs, which include work by other artists.

Terkell plans another 6,000-square-foot building on the same property next year.

The goal in the new building is to pour Riley's largerthan- life pieces.

calls Trekell, who is also the landlord of her studio space, her patron and driving force.

Equipment to outfit a small foundry costs about $50,000 while a larger foundry, able to handle larger-than-life sculptures,would take $250,000, she says.

Riley's career has followed the path of the old masters.Upon graduation with a degree in fine arts, she traveled, near-penniless, to another state to apprentice with acclaimed sculptor Snell Johnson, who agreed to take her on after seeing her portfolio.

It was under his tutelage that she encountered the thrill of a lifetime: working on the three-story-tall MGM Grand lion statue in Las Vegas.

Best known in the four-state area surrounding her alma mater Oklahoma State University, which she attended on a scholarship, she made her name while a student.

"The word got out and I was booked," she says.

She was also busy,working at six locations throughout multiple states.

The hardest part of building a career in the arts was the loneliness, she recalls.

"I lived in warehouses, bathed out of a bucket, put all the money toward supplies.

The worst part was the rejection by people because everyone thought I was crazy.

"The big-name successful artists said to me, 'you've got to pay your dues; it will take 10 years.' It took me 14 years.

It's hard when you have no heat; your hands are freezing and you're trying to sculpt."

Bronze casting is a physical art, and most often the province of men.

But Riley was always athletic, she says.

Because Riley was hyper-active child, her mother was advised to harness that energy into Olympic training.A six-time All- American, she trained since the age of six for Olympic high jump and won two junior Olympic gold medals in track and field."That's where I get my psycho-discipline," she says.

It's also where she got an appreciation for muscle.

Riley found it unsatisfactory to translate three-dimensional sculpting from flat books showing drawings of musculature.

That led to an interest in studying cadavers.

"Michelangelo studied cadavers," she says, then adds: "That's my motto: Always learn from the best."

Carving cadavers is the prerogative of medical students; since she was not, Riley had to pass a year of personal screening.

Plus, a medical student and a doctor had to be present during the off-hours she was allowed access to the morgue from 10 p.m.

to 4 a.m.However, after two months, she was allowed to work alone in the morgue all night.

"Cadavers move," she recalls."Imagine involuntary muscle jerks at 4 a.m. my tools went flying everywhere."

Bronze casting is a five-step process.

First: sculpt clay.

Second: shape a silicon mold over the clay.

Third: pour hot wax into the mold.

Fourth: Dip the wax mold into a ceramic slurry shell.When the shell is fired, the wax falls out.

Fifth: Pour molten bronze into the shell.

Next year, Riley is invited to show at the largest sculpture show in the nation, the Loveland (Colo.) Sculpture in the Park.

"I go to find the best of the best," she reiterates.

She's also been accepted as staff at the Loveland Sculpture Academy,with another offer to teach at the St.Mary's Arts Center in Virginia City.

(Her work can be seen online at www.bronzebymischell.com.)