John Buck Reprised and Now on the Green Line / Transit Mall

Lodge Grass ~ 2000

Cast bronze, 49.5 x 15.5 x 12 inches, Edition of 3

Back in May, Fifty Two Pieces featured John Buck. The Portland Art Museum owns a number of his wooden pieces. Lewis and Clark is home to some of the very tall bronze sculptures. However, all of us in downtown Portland can now enjoy one of his smaller, four feet high, pieces. Lodge Grass is a cast bronze and is located on SW 6th, just south of the rather large Lee Kelly that we'll have to showcase in the future. Portlanders are very fortunate to have so much public art on their streets. 

John Buck from Inside His Studio TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2009

Amy's link yesterday to ARTWORKS will give you an insight into John Buck, the man and how he came to be a word carver. All through school his sculptures had been made from found objects from other people's yards. During a semester abroad spent in England while he was in graduate school, Buck found that he was cut off from that source. As a result, he began to use the piles of wood the school provided him. He says it took him a while but he finally bonded with this new process and the rest is history so to speak. 

John Buck's own website John Buck Art opens with the image above, a look inside his studio. This and other photos from his spread in Montana would indicate that he has spent many years collecting tools and carving pieces that he can use in future assemblages. Here's another view of his studio. 

It's almost as if you can see the bones of the works he will create – a look inside John Buck's mind.