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Bruce Wolfe’s sculp­ture career spans more than four decades.  He spe­cial­izes in fig­u­ra­tive por­traits and has ren­dered works of such notable pub­lic fig­ures as for­mer British Prime Min­is­ter Mar­garet Thatcher, the late U.S. rep­re­sen­ta­tive and civil rights activist Bar­bara Jor­dan, for­mer U.S. Sec­re­tary of State George Schultz, for­mer Supreme Court Chief Jus­tice William Rehn­quist and leg­endary boxer Muham­mad Ali.  For Thatcher’s statue, Wolfe trav­eled to Eng­land to sit with the the grande dame of British pol­i­tics and take pho­tos and measurements.

He stud­ied art at San Jose State Uni­ver­sity and the San Fran­cisco Art Insti­tute.  Start­ing his career as an art direc­tor for a big adver­tis­ing firm in San Fran­cisco, Wolfe even­tu­ally turned to illus­tra­tion and went out on his own.  One of his first sculp­ture com­mis­sions was of Kurt Adler, music direc­tor of the San Fran­cisco Opera.

Wolfe has sculpted works that con­vey the per­son­al­i­ties of may­ors, city founders, col­lege pres­i­dents,  major donors, col­lege coaches, notable ath­letes, an opera direc­tors, med­ical pio­neers, and reli­gious fig­ures.  They stand, they con­tem­plate, they sit, they observe in ways com­pletely char­ac­ter­is­tic to the per­son represented.

Four of Wolfe’s 7-foot bronze fig­ures can be found in niches of the his­toric chapel at the Old Mis­sion in Santa Bar­bara rep­re­sent­ing St. Clare, St. Fran­cis, Mary Mag­da­lene and Christ.  His 9-foot statue of bas­ket­ball great Magic John­son is located at Michi­gan State University.

For each of his fig­ures Wolfe researches exact dress and man­ner­isms, going so far as to col­lect cloth­ing, jew­elry and other items as well as vis­it­ing his subject’s home and work­place to ensure a wholly accu­rate pre­sen­ta­tion.  He starts work in clay, using the fin­ished piece to cre­ate the mold for a bronze pour, then com­plet­ing the project with a patina finish.

Men­tions:  Richard McDon­ald, Lamar Hunt, Mario Lemieux, Art­works Foundry, Gladding McBean, George Shultz, Nor­man Shumway, Edgar Odell Lovette, Frank Gehry, John Han­nah

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