Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Scott Bruckner. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Scott thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

My day job was as “in the box” as you could get. I worked in the insurance industry for a Fortune 500 country based in the East, the wing tip capital of the financial sector. I was once told I needed to ditch my wingtips because they had tasles on them. I thought they were stylish. As a visual artist, the closest thing I had to being creative was putting together Power Point presentations. I once put a color photo of my department on the cover of the annual report I was charged completing. At the time, just making a color copy was a big deal. I owe a lot of my business success on actually being a creative person, but mostly I wasn’t afraid to take risks. That was somewhat fool hearty, supporting a family of 6 on my salary.

I have met so many creative people in my life, and many were just so afraid to share their work, the fear of taking the risk they would be rejected. Myself, on the other hand, I have always wanted to create something new, something not seen before. Alexander Calder was my hero, creating the first mobile, long before anyone had ever attempted to do something so radical. Louse Nevelson was another creative who wasn’t afraid to just put it out there.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I create contemporary wood sculpture. Wood provides warmth to my work, and I use the natural color, grain and sometimes even the live edge of the wood itself. My work is finished to a museum quality that one would expect from a fine art presentation. Sculpture is filling space, and I want to fill the inside of someones home with a three dimensional piece that will be enjoyed every time your eye wanders in that direction. Sculpture fills the void that is left in so many modern homes. I am always surprised by the lack of sculpture in so many high end homes I see. Don’t get me wrong, two dimensional wall art can pop off the walls to the viewer. I just feel my work, and other sculptors, take that negative space, and fill it with such an important dimension.

I chose sculpture as my art because I am partially color blind, and I felt my paintings would always be less then, not knowing the true color dynamic in the piece.

I tried my hand at public art, but the piece I created was reduced to a few small small pieces of wood, where a dynamic sculpture once stood. The remote location was partly to blame, but it allowed me to narrow my focus to inside pieces that would be finely finished, and I have been concentrating on that purpose ever since.

Taking risks to do something that was out of the norm has taken its toll over the 25 years I have been creating, but stopping this passion to create is out of the question. In my work, I allow the wood to speak to me, and many of my pieces are from unmilled wood I find on local Avocado orchards, or wood that is just given to me by friends. Like my aunt who liked frogs, once people know what you like, the frogs just come out of the woodwork.

My mission has always been to be a well known San Diego sculptor, and I reached that pinnacle when I was asked to be in an exhibit last year at the Oceanside Museum of Art. My work continues to win awards in San Diego art shows, and that is what is expanding my reach.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Some non creative people will always struggle with appreciating the passion that artists have in just pursuing the creative juice that drives us. My father never understood my work. He kept wanting to hang his jacket off my pieces. Even suggesting I would do well by designing something more practical for him to do that. To this day, it is hard for me to see sculptural work mistreated. Not all three dimensional objects are meant to be used. I have seen people poke their heads into my work and make a funny face. Just this week, a gallerist took a photo through a hole in one of my pieces in order to frame the rest of the work in the show. Something I felt a little offended by.

Understanding that being an artist is such a struggle would be a good thing to acknowledge. It was years before I actually called myself an artist. I recall a time that I walked into a small gathering and was actually put down for what I did. The male crowd around the football game seemed to be putting me down, implying that what I did was actually a feminist pursuit. Pretty funny when artists know how women have been excluded so badly in the history of art makers.

Describing the process of making my work, and the many hours that go into that effort, can help in gaining appreciation for the results. Many artistic things in our life are a result of creatives, but the ones who will never appreciate works of art, well, they never will appreciate it.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Being accepted in the region as an exceptional contemporary artist has always been my goal. I came to the realization long ago that I wasn’t the next Calder, or Picasso. Many young artists, and even older ones, have this unfounded dream of being the next great world renowned artist. Reading the book Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert, will help one understand that the true satisfaction in doing art, is actually in the process of creating it. Taking criticism, or not selling your work, can sometimes cause self doubt. But not creating is never an option for the artist. If I do not work on my craft, I feel unsatisfied with that day, only yearning more to get back to the studio in the morning.

As with many, selling ones work can be a real driver of self confidence. Sometimes a dry spell can be driven by the lack of talent to market ones work, or it may be driven by something else. I have never had a time where I had a large enough inventory to be concerned. With sculpture, this can be a very big issue. My wife use to always comment on new work that I was doing, “where are we going to put it?” Not the biggest motivator for sure. Being an artist is a passion, one that over shadows even a mission, or even a goal. The journey is in the making of artistic objects not the resulting product.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.scottbruckner.com
• Instagram: scott_bruckner
• Facebook: Scott Bruckner