McCarthy, Kevin
"Cheyenne Threat"- Depicts one of the warriors the way he might have looked on the morning of the "Battle of the Rosebud" that took place in June of 1876. The Cheyenne tribal medicine men supplied buffalo horns to the warriors that were attached to their war bonnets. The Indian victory at the Rosebud was the prelude to the greater triumph when Lt. Col. George Custer and his command were wiped out eight days later by the same warriors.
"Pony Express"- In April 1860 the original fast mail service began it's short history and had messages carried by horseback riders. They relayed across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains of the Western United States. It reduced the time for mail to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to around ten days. This hand patinated bronze is #16 of 20 and the original clay was carved in 1990.
"The Victor" by Durango artist Kevin McCarthy. The sculpture is #16 of 20. McCarthy's figures and animals are realistic and tools, clothes and actions are well studied to portray a historically correct depiction. This bronze is hand painted and is displayed on a wooden turnstile, allowing the sculpture to be turned and viewed from any angle.
"Pursuit" by Durango artist Kevin McCarthy is # 1 of 30. The first casting of this dramatic native man in full run. Measuring 40 inches tall includes the base and the tip of the spear.
"Stolen Pony" by Durango artist Kevin McCarthy. Pioneer Mountain Man is racing the wind with his stolen pony. Action and movement are always present in Kevin's work. They also tend to capture a time in history and tell a tale of survival, conflict and life in the Southwest. Cast is 8 of 13.
"Driven to the Edge" by Durango artist sculptor Kevin McCarthy. Pictured is a Sioux hunter that is driving four stampeding to their death. The Plains Indians used every part of the Buffalo for their survival. They shared a give and take relationship with the animals. This casting is # 17 of 20, the patina is subtle and rich, and hand done specially for each sculpture.
" Taking Coup" is an edition of 20, this is number 16. The patina is a traditional bronze. There is a lot of movement in this sculpture,the horse is balanced on one hind hoof, and horse and rider are in mid air. Measuring 16 inches high by 15 1/2 inches long and 10 1/2 inches wide.
Featured is another exquisitely detailed and colored patina bronze sculpture by Durango artist Kevin McCarthy. The Indian brave is riding his horse as if they are both about to take flight. Measuring 17-1/2" tall, it is #11 of a edition of 20.
"Black Leg Dancer" bronze by Kevin McCarthy. Limited edition bronze of 30. Kevin carefully chooses his own patinas to get just the effect he desires - and his patinas are among the best! The sculpture is 61" tall.
"Tracking the Enemy"- by Kevin McCarthy is a sight to behold. The Blackfoot warrior is depicted using his remarkable skill in sign reading to hunt down a marauding band of Crow warriors and avenge the losses of his people. The colored patinas on this piece, as well as the intricate detail make it a fine collectors piece - even among Kevin's usually brilliant works. This piece measures 28" in height and 27" long. Limited edition of 20.
By the artist: "In modern dance there are no general rules. Each work of art creates it's own language.
"In the 1920's and 1930's, choreographers virtually reinvented dance. It is perhaps significant that the two nations in which modern dance took strongest, America and Germany, were two nations that had no celebrated ballet companies.
"In creating this sculpture, I am striving to capture the motion of a dancer that exists on an arc between absolute motionlessness, and complete collapse.
"It is a study of the dynamics of balance and imbalance.
"This composition is an exploration of the relationship between Extension, fall and recovery, which I find analogous to Awakening from a dream."
This piece is seventy inches tall, including the turntable base, and is number two of an edition of twenty.
Kevin McCarthy's image of a Sioux warrior is twenty-four inches tall, including the base. This piece is number eight of an edition of twenty.
This is a bronze portrait of the Native American, Lone Bear. This piece is fourteen inches tall, and is the nineteenth of an edition of twenty.
For Native Americans, prayer and careful religious observance was an important part of the preparations for war. With the knowledge they were risking their lives, they sought divine assistance. Native Americans usually regarded their warfare as defensive rather than as an exercise for personal glory. While some raids were motivated by revenge, most raids were seen as necessary to protect and preserve the tribe. The Crow warrior depicted in this sculpture is praying for the success, welfare and safe return of his war party from an engagement with the enemy.
Mato Wanahtaka or "Kicking Bear" was born about 1847, the son of the chief of a band of Ogalala Sioux. Kicking Bear became a famed warrior-prophet and medicine man and, in his early days, was an artist. In 1876, shortly after the battle of Little Bighorn, he painted a now famous pictograph of his role in the defeat of Custer. The pictograph shows Kicking Bear joining Crazy Horse, his first cousin, in an ambush of an oncoming cavalry battalion. Early in 1890 Kicking Bear received national notoriety for his role in spreading the Ghost Dance and preaching its virtues. Practitioners of the Ghost Dance predicted the revival of the old ways, restoration of the buffalo and the destruction of whites, which started the chain of events that led to Wounded Knee, the last major Indian battle in the United States. Edition of 20. 30 inches high.
Old time mountain men wore much of the same gear that the Plains Indians would, sometimes due to the fact that they were trapping the same animals and because they traded with the Indians for them. The inspiration for this sculpture occurred when I envisioned such an old time mountain man covered with a buffalo robe and wolf headdress as he turns to face a howling Norther. Edition of 20. Measuring 20 inches high,
White Antelope was a leader of the Southern Cheyenne before he and his people were killed in a massacre at Sand Creek in 1864. The Southern Cheyenne and white settlers coexisted peaceably in the Denver area until treaty chiefs were pressured into signing an agreement with the Federal Government that allowed the encroachment of settlers and gold seekers onto their hunting lands without prior consultation with the entire tribe. After an altercation between Colorado Militia and the Southern Cheyenne which resulted in the death of many Indian women and children as well as warriors, the Governor of Colorado persuaded the Indians to settle at Sand Creek. On November 29, 1864, Revered J. M. Chivington, an officer of the Colorado volunteer militia, acting under his own volition, raised nearly 1,000 volunteers to drive the Indians out of Sand Creek by mounting a surprise attack. Chivington and his men attacked the Indians with sadistic enthusiasm even though Black Kettle, the ranking chief, raised a white flag alongside a U.S. flag. White Antelope stood in front of his lodge and sang his death song, which included the timeless passage, "nothing lives long except the earth and the mountains." He was shot down with at least 300 men, women and children of his tribe. Edition of 30. Measuring 21 inches high.
The timeless struggle between man and nature and the interdependence between the Plains Indians and the buffalo are the subject of "The Thunder of Hooves." The Indians utilized every part of the buffalo and were dependent upon them for survival. Large areas o prairie were burned off at regular intervals to provide fresh grasses and induce the herds to graze there. The excess numbers of the herds were trimmed by the buffalo hunts. The story behind this bronze is that of a Sioux hunter whose arrows have run out and whose luck may also have run out in this timeless contest as the hunter may be about to become the hunted. Edition of 10. Measuring 24 inches high.
