<![CDATA[Bronze Sculpture | Public & Private Commission Art by Nathan Scott - Blog]]>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 02:48:14 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[The unfortunate four]]>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/the-unfortunate-fourI am so excited to soon be able to introduce you to four guys, I affectionately call ‘The Unfortunate Four!’  I won't 'unveil' them to you before their covers come off...and that will be soon!  I wondered if I would ever see the day! 

Quite a few years ago I was approached by a committee who had the idea to create a park that would have all of Canada's Prime Ministers in bronze.  They decided each Prime Minister would have what they called 'easter eggs' sculpted into them so people could look at each one and find little clues included within the sculpture that had hints about each one's personality, beliefs, work, etc.  They began fundraising, and the Prime Minister's Park began.  Some of you may recall that I sculpted Sir Robert Borden, and he was unveiled back in 2017.  That was quite exciting for me because I actually have a connection to the Borden family, and some of them lived a stone's throw from my house at the time, in Saanich, Victoria.  I was able to have one of Sir Robert Borden's very great nephews actual model for me for the sculpture of his famous ancestor!

After that, the committee asked me to sculpt 4 Prime Ministers at once.  Not many have ever heard of these guys because all four were in and out of office within 5 years!  Because of this, the committee decided to have them sculpted in conversation with each other.  I affectionally began calling them 'The Unfortunate Four,' because they never really had their day in the sun.

Here is a bit of their stories, and the reason I call them 'unfortunate.'
 
I’ll start with Sir John Abbott.  Sir John A MacDonald-who most Canadians are pretty good at recalling as our first Prime Minister, dies in his second term of a stroke and Abbott steps in.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t interested in being the Prime Minister.  Shortly before stepping in, he is quoted as saying, “"I hate politics, and what are considered their appropriate methods. I hate notoriety, public meetings, public speeches, caucuses and everything that I know of that is apparently the necessary incident of politics, except doing public work to the best of my ability."   His explanation of why he became Prime Minister is: "I am there because I am not particularly obnoxious to anybody."  He’s already 70 years old, and soon after he becomes Prime Minister, Canada goes into recession.  He was in office for 17 months, retiring due to poor health (brain cancer)  and unfortunately he dies less than a year later. 
 
Sir John Thompson takes over.  He is the Prime Minister for 2 years and 8 days.  He’s the youngest of these four at 47 years old when he takes office, and he has the great honour of going to Windsor Castle in England and being sworn into Queen Victoria’s Imperial Privy Council.  Unfortunately, just after he is sworn in, he has a heart attack and dies right there in Windsor Castle!  He’s the only Prime Minister to die while in office on foreign soil.
 
Sir Mackenzie Bowell takes over immediately.  Unfortunately, he’s got a chip on his shoulder and is really hard to work with-not a nice person, apparently.  He’s the only Protestant out of these 4 PMs.  The main issue of the day is funding for Catholic schools in the ‘Manitoba Schools Question,’ so being a protestant doesn't help.  Seven ministers in his own cabinet resign all at once and denounce him as incompetent.  He is in office for one year, four months and six days before he is forced out of office.  Unfortunately, he was just the wrong man for the job!
 
Sir Charles Tupper has the office handed over to him.  Unfortunately, he’s only going to last 68 days-Canada’s shortest serving Prime Minister.  He never faced Parliament and lost the federal election later that year.

Unfortunately, these four Prime Minister’s stories are largely forgotten in our history because they are largely unremarkable.  Because they were in and out of office within 5 years, not much was accomplished for Canada during this time.  I found all of them on a list of 10 ‘Worst Canadian Prime Ministers of All Time.’  Laurier comes along with a lot of vision and is in office accomplishing much for the next 15 years! 
    
The commissioning team decided we should sculpt all of these guys as a group because no one really knew who they were.  At least they would finally get their day in the sun for their service to Canada.  I was very excited to sign the contract on July 1, 2019 for my largest commission to date.  They were to be unveiled on a sunny day in June.  June 20, it was.  June 20, 2020.  We all know where we were in June of 2020, and it wasn’t at a sculpture unveiling of 4 unfortunate and forgotten Prime Ministers!  No.  Unfortunately we were at the height of Covid, watching the news as Prime Minister sculptures were being hauled down.  I crated up my 4 unfortunate fellows, and without so much as a professional photo being taken of my largest commission to date that I was so pleased with, they were shipped off to a warehouse where they ...unfortunately... sat for the next 6+ years, waiting for some glimmer of appreciation for their service to Canada.
  
I am beyond excited to announce that we will finally be unveiling my Unfortunate Four!  I’m rather partial to my these four fellows.  I'm REALLY hoping to have photos soon!
 

]]><![CDATA['The Watchman' - Bronze Raven]]>Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:37:10 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/the-watchman-bronze-raven
​I was first introduced to ravens in my younger days during my ten-year stint in the Yukon Territories as a gold miner.  I’d never had the opportunity to really observe ravens before.  They are massive birds compared to the common crow I was used to.  They’re mischievous, mysterious, and a pleasure to watch.  I immediately understood why our Pacific Northwest Aboriginals describe them as tricksters!

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]]><![CDATA[‘To Love and to Cherish’ - Bronze Sculpture commission]]>Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:10:15 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/to-love-and-to-cherish-bronze-sculpture-commission
elderly couple love memory bronze commission sculpture nathan scott
​As much as I love bringing someone else’s vision into bronze reality and exceeding their expectations, whenever I’m doing commissions, I’m always thinking, “If I had my own way, what would I sculpt?” 
I love to sculpt people, and my favourite people to sculpt are the elderly, with their character and wisdom.  I rarely get the opportunity to sculpt more than one figure, but I am always on the lookout for it because it’s a lot of fun for me to plan how they will interact subtly with each other while also looking available to interact with passers-by.
 
A sculpture on a bench cannot turn you away; it extends an invitation to all who walk by to stop, take a load off, and enjoy a few moments with them.  I have received many notes from people telling me of how they have visited one of my publicly commissioned bench sculptures, viewing them as a friend during a hard time.  Some place fresh flowers in a sculpture’s hands every day.  They have met them as if meeting a friend and poured out their hearts to someone who would never say the wrong thing,  betray, or grow weary of listening; my bench sculptures have been a safe confidant to many!

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]]><![CDATA[Bronze commission of Mr. Robert H. Lee]]>Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:06:00 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/bronze-commission-of-mr-robert-h-lee
​This is a commission of Mr. Robert H. Lee, a lifelong philanthropist and businessman known to many as ‘Mr. UBC.’  Being an encouragement to others, and gaining an excellent education was very important to him.  According to the current president of the University of British Columbia, Mr. Lee was instrumental in transforming UBC from a commuter campus into the world-leading university that it is today.

​​This was a fun sculpture to do.  I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Lee on several occasions over the years and once you met him, you will never forget him!  To be able to capture who he was, and especially his wonderful smile was a pleasure.  

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]]><![CDATA[Beaver Aircraft Sculpture]]>Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:01:34 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/beaver-aircraft-sculpture
This was a very different kind of commission than the figurative or wildlife sculptures I usually sculpt.  I have been commissioned to sculpt inorganic things before, but they have been props of some sort: a hockey stick, Tonka Truck, toy sailboat, etc.  I just goes to show that what people value enough to have memorialized in bronze as a private commission is overwhelmingly the people or animals they love!

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]]><![CDATA['The face off' | bronze hockey]]>Tue, 15 May 2018 04:19:58 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/the-face-off-bronze-hockey'The Face Off' Photos of my latest sculpture, an enthusiastic coach with a little girl & boy peewee (aka Timbits in Canada!) which I installed outside the Servus Arena in Red Deer Alberta on April 18, 2018.

This was a really fun piece for me to sculpt. Every famous hockey player started here...and every one of them had a dedicated coach and a worn out Mom or Dad getting them up and to the rink in the wee hours of the morning!
bronze hockey sculpture statue arena red deer alberta peewee timbits
]]><![CDATA[Bronze Sculpting Process]]>Thu, 24 Aug 2017 04:23:24 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/bronze-sculpting-process
Bronze sculpting process how to make
]]><![CDATA[Police Officer public installation for the City of Lacombe's Police Station]]>Wed, 19 Oct 2016 04:51:40 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/police-officer-public-installation-for-the-city-of-lacombes-police-stationI just installed it yesterday. Please welcome this new police officer sculpted for the City of Lacombe's police station.
]]><![CDATA[City of Lacombe | Time-lapse Police Officer Commissioned Sculpture ]]>Thu, 14 Jul 2016 03:36:09 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/city-of-lacombe-time-lapse-police-officer-commissioned-sculpture
]]><![CDATA[District of Sparwood to craft a life-size miner sculpture]]>Fri, 25 Mar 2016 05:27:50 GMThttps://www.sculpturebynathanscott.com/blog/district-of-sparwood-to-craft-a-life-size-miner-sculpture
Picture
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