<I>Elane Dickenson/Chieftain</I><BR>Let 'er Buck sculpture leaves Wallowa County for Pendleton Round-Up home

The 14-foot “Let ‘er Buck” bronze by Austin Barton left the obscurity of the Norman Arts studio in rural Wallowa County last week for its new home in the spotlight at the Pendleton Round-Up Grounds.

“It’s been a tight schedule – a nine-month project that we did in six,” said artist and artisan Tim Norman, who was responsible for bringing Barton’s sculpture to life in metal.

Barton, a native of Wallowa County who now lives in Battleground, Wash., was commissioned last year by the Pendleton Round-Up to sculpt a monumental-sized bronze of the famous rodeo traditional “Let ‘er Buck” logo of a bucking horse and rider as the centerpiece of the $1.14 million Centennial Plaza project.

Norman finished the patina on the giant bronze Tuesday, June 22, and then accompanied the piece to Pendleton to oversee the installation Thursday. He was also a guest, along with Barton and many others, at the public unveiling and dedication ceremony, Saturday, June 26.

“It definitely captured the spirit of the Pendleton Round-Up,” said Jacinda Mitchell, wax-chaser and “Jill-of-all-trades” at Norman Arts, who accompanied the Norman family to the event. She said she was “really proud” to be part of the crew that worked on the artwork. “I couldn’t believe how it came together. It was in all those little pieces in the shop, and now it looks great.”

The job for Norman Arts started when Norman, his son Brady and brother Mike traveled to Barton’s Battleground studio to create rubber mother molds from the artist’s original sculpture – made of foam overlaid with clay in December.

From there wax was poured into over 80 molds of different pieces of the sculpture in Norman’s rural Enterprise studio. Wax models created of the original artwork were “chased” to remove imperfections.

As part of the process, ceramic shells were created around the wax models at Parks Bronz in Enterprise. Left behind when the wax melted was a hollow space into which the metal was poured during the “rough cast.”

By the time the casting was done at the beginning of May there were 120 different bronze pieces that had to be welded together in Norman’s shop. Then all signs of the casting and fabrication were filed down and polished before the patina was applied – a combination of heat and chemical – to get the desired finish.

“A lot of people worked on this along the way,” Norman said, as he looked up at the big 3,000-pound bronze, which measures 14 feet from the base to the top of the bronc rider’s hand.

Among those who contributed to the effort were Mitchell, Norman’s son Brady, his brother-in-law Ken Hafer, Dick Cross, Chuck Frazier, Lyle Witherrite and Jeremy Eaves, plus the Parks Bronze slurry and metal-pouring crew.

“Pendleton knows how to put on a good party,” said Norman of the dedication ceremony, where he was happy to see his friend and client Austin Barton recognized for his work. “It’s their showpiece now, and I hope it draws in a lot of people.”

While the big bronze is now installed at its permanent home in Pendleton, Norman Arts isn’t through with the Let ‘er Buck. A limited edition of 100 table-top bronzes are also being sold, and so far 49 have found buyers. “We’ve delivered 25 so far and are working on the rest,” Norman said.