Famous Fairview sculptor passes away
By Robert Stevens
Managing editor
5-28-2020
FAIRVIEW—A Fairview man renowned worldwide for wildlife and nature art died last week, leaving behind a rich legacy of artistic mastery in several mediums.
Clark Everice Bronson of Fairview, born 1939, died on Thursday, May 21. He fell in love with wildlife at a young age. His father was a game warden in his hometown of Kamas, and he would often take Clark along with him on the job.
Bronson attended the University of Utah, and studied under renowned artist Arnold Friberg, creator of the famous revolutionary war painting, “The Prayer at Valley Forge.” Friberg would eventually go on to praise his student’s artistic achievements, saying “Bronson is the best in the field.”
In 1960, Bronson began doing illustrations for the Utah Fish and Game Department, which would lead to more work doing covers and illustrations for various publications, as well as commissions for his paintings, which were very realistic from years of studying animals.
By 1969, he was one of the preeminent wildlife painters in American, winning national honors.
After more than a decade of very successful painting and illustration work, Bronson switched his medium and took up sculpting. He took to the medium naturally, and found renewed passion in the creation of three-dimensional art, which allowed him to exercise his love of realism and fine detail even further.
In only a few years, Bronson’s bronze sculptures of wildlife became collected widely across the globe, earning him even more praise.
Harry Horswell of the Tryon Gallery in London said, “Clark Bronson is the greatest wildlife sculptor since the nineteenth century.”
Bronson was destined for another change of medium when he and his wife Pauline began making wildlife videos. They started out filming wildlife for years to use as a reference for Bronson’s work, but in the 1990s they would go on to create videos intended for an audience.
One such film was “Black Bear Basics.” The film was intended to help children to appreciate bears and wildlife, and contained footage that took the couple years to collect.
Black Bear Basics would go on to become an award winner at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. It won Best of Category and Merit Awards for Presentation of Biological Information, Excellent Footage, Conservation Message, and Good Communication to a Young Audience.
Bronson and his wife spent years collaborating on wildlife films in Southeast Alaska, living on a large boat and taking a smaller vessel to the shore each day, loaded with photographic and video gear to capture their footage.
“I have the deepest admiration for Clark and Pauline,” says close friend and longtime resident of Fairview, Jackson Pemberton. “What a wonderful pair they made. I have seen many pictures of them working together—Pauline running the video camera and Clark working with the animals. He loved animals from his very earliest childhood. His constant attraction to them was the key to his ability to portray them with precision and respect. I think he felt it a matter of personal honor and also of respect for his subjects to represent them exactly as they are and with his best, patient and perfectionist skill.”
More information on the late Clark Bronson can be found at his website, http://www.ClarkBronson.com.
