Award-Winning Sculptor Nell Banister Scruggs
805.495-8571
P.O. Box 7802
Thousand Oaks, CA 91359

The Process

Nell Banister Scruggs Biography

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email: nanell72@aol.com
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Confidence

His Return

Mother and Child

Nude

Oh Great Spirit

Rehearsal


Repose


Spear Hunter

Stretching

Water Nymph

On Toe


Downhill Charge

 

Bath Time
email: nanell72@aol.com
 

Nell’s sculptures begin with a dream, a vision, that very slowly takes its shape and finds its essence in clay. Only when she is truly satisfied that a piece is the perfect expression of her subject, does she submit it to the next step. The complex casting process transforms the raw clay model into glowing, enduring bronze.

At the foundry a latex mold is formed over the original clay. From that mold, wax, then ceramic molds are painstakingly created, perfected and readied to receive the molten metal. Nell carefully works on each piece at every stage to erase any imperfections. The final step is to detail each piece exactly as in the original. Only then can patinas be applied with chemicals or pigments to color, finish or enhance the work.

Nell’s relationship with each of her sculptures extends and endures beyond her first vision through the heat and labor of the foundry where each piece is given life as it is forged in fire.

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Nell Banister Scruggs,
a native of North Carolina, began sketching at an early age. For years her work focused on oils and pastels, with her subjects varying from seascapes to portraits.
Nell spent many years in art classes, primarily studying with Hal Reed, who is recognized in “Who’s Who in American Art.” She learned anatomy, perspective, composition and color, before touching on her current passion, sculpture. “I felt that my clay figures evolved, seemingly without effort. I knew I had found my medium in sculpting.”
A student of well-known western sculptors Elie Hazak and Grant Speed, Nell also had the good fortune of studying with world-renowned Italian sculptor, Bruno Lucchesi.
“I try to show the feelings we all have and can relate to, whether the subject shows the grace of a ballerina, the power and wild energy of a horse, the tenderness of a mother toward her child, the toughness of a weary cowboy or the spirit of a native American Indian.”
Nell’s bronze sculptures have been recognized by the Golden State Sculptors Association and by Loveland’s Art in the Park: the two largest sculpture shows in the United States. Her sculptures have been or are currently exhibited in fine art galleries in Morro Bay, Cambria, Palm Springs and Laguna Beach, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Cape Cod, Massachussetts; and in her home town of Asheville, North Carolina. Her pieces are in private collections across America.
email: nanell72@aol.com
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