"Wake Up Call" Duke Sundt

"Wake Up Call" Duke Sundt. Bronze sculpture. 17.5" H x 16.5" L x 9" W.  Limited Edition of 30.

A number of years ago I was managing Thunder Ranch, a small mountain ranch northwest of Las Vegas, NM.  My uncle Harry Mosimann owned Surprise Valley Ranch, which was about five miles further up the valley at the head of the Sapello canyon.  My cousins, Moe and Martin Mosimann, managed Surprise Valley Ranch at that time.  It was elk season, late in the fall, and guiding various hunts was a large part of the Mosimanns’ livelihood.  

The Mosimann boys hired me to ‘day’ work, setting up a couple of hunting camps in the Pecos Wilderness.  Shawn was a young cowboy who was working fulltime for the outfit, and I was to help him set up one of the camps this particular day.

As instructed, I showed up about 4 a.m. with my saddle and gear on an icy fall morning.  Shawn and I packed three horses and saddled up our mounts.  Now, Shawn knew the camp location and since I didn’t, he led the way. He led one packhorse while I followed leading the other two, with one tied to the other’s tail.  It was bitter cold and pitch dark when we left the barn.  We traveled up the right hand fork of the Sapello called the Johns canyon and up Spring Mountain trail.  It’s roughly a two hour horseback ride to where the trail tops out on Spring Mountain at about 10,500 foot elevation.

We topped out just as the sun broke out over the mountain peaks.  The sun was beating down on our backs as we rode on the Skyline Trail towards the Sheep Herders Corral.  The only sound was the muffled hoof steps on the trail as it wound through the aspens.  The sun was so soothing as it warmed our backs.  

Taking in the sun’s warmth and the sweet scent of the crisp mountain air, I happened to notice Shawn’s saddle horse meandering along the trail ahead of me.  Shawn’s head seemed to be bobbing and just as I was about to say something to him, the packhorse, he was leading, started to pass him on the left side.  The lead rope slipped right up under the tail of Shawn’s horse.  The rodeo was on!  Shawn’s horse blew straight up, breaking the silence with the sound of bellowing, slapping leather and the rattle of equipment.  

To Shawn’s credit, he rode out the storm, which lasted only four or five jumps, as the startled packhorse quickly yanked the lead rope out from under the tail of the insulted saddle horse.  I got off my horse, picked up and handed Shawn his hat.  I told him I was about to say something when I saw his head bobbing.  Shawn replied, “Hell, I was sound asleep”.

In my sculpture, ‘Wake Up Call”, I’ve illustrated that experience which fortunately had a happy ending.  My figures are represented as I remember the incident.  I modeled the riders’ saddle after one I bought from Martin Mosimann in the mid 1980’s.  The saddle was made by Mel Miller in 1965, Mel’s saddles are regarded highly.  The Billy Cook saddle bags were modeled after a pair my wife gave me.  I like the simulated buck stitch design complimenting the untooled texture on the saddle.

The two horses are wearing their “winter coats”.  The saddle horse wears a ring snaffle bit, usually worn by young horses in training.  The packhorse has a single diamond hitch tying the load together.  The rider is wearing a Schafer brush coat.

In the composition of the sculpture, the two horses seemingly are bolting off the routed base.  I wanted to give a slightly uneasy feeling to the viewer that may convey what was going through the rider’s mind at the moment.

This piece is a little more detailed than some I’ve created because I felt the accurate illustration of the gear was important.  The subject is one that was challenging, and I believe, fairly unique.  You kind of had to be there.  I love sculpting subjects that not many artist’s tackle.  Sometimes just a different twist of perspective can produce a much more interesting composition.  Perhaps the viewer seeing “Wake Up Call” may be reminded of a similar experience.  Anyone who has spent a lot of time, particularily with young horses, can relate to calamities that arise and how they are usually the result of human error.

I have had a dual career in art and ranching since graduating from college in 1973.  My art subjects often reflect my experiences with ranch life and working with livestock.  I enjoy the diversity of opportunities the lifestyle allows me to pursue.  Managing several different ranches on the outskirts of Las Vegas, NM for thirty five years has supplied me with a wealth of stories to tell in three-dimensional sculpture.  Most of the body of my work has dealt with contemporary western Americana, wildlife of the southwest, and some historical themes involving American Indians.  I prefer a representational style of sculpting my subject matter.  Accuracy of detail in my work is as important to me as the story I’m telling in a sculpture.  I want the cowboy’s tack and gear to be right and true.  I believe it was this attention to detail that led me to be the artist chosen, in 1982, to sculpt a heroic size longhorn steer for the University of Texas at Austin, TX.  The primary focus of this monument was to recognize the significant role longhorn cattle played in the historic development of Texas and the west.  In 1985, I received the commission to sculpt four life size military soldiers representing four American wars since WWI for the campus at the New Mexico Military Institute.  Again, my attention to realism in detail was what the selection committee was looking for.  At the end of the project, funds became available to do a fifth soldier in the scale of 1.2 life size for NMMI.  

Being the son of a military man, I was raised an “army brat” until the age of thirteen.  My father, a 1932 West Point Military Academy graduate, was posted in Copenhagen, Denmark for four years in his last station of duty prior to retiring.  The heroic bronze sculptures throughout the city, the many museums and art galleries my father and I visited left such strong impressions on me.  My father’s influence with a soldiers’ point of view and my natural interest in military history impacted my desire to sculpt military subjects. In 1989, I completed a monument for New Mexico State University called “The Traders”.  The tri-culture piece is based on commerce in territorial New Mexico circa 1850.  I greatly enjoy the historical research required on all the monuments I have done.  In 2007, I was commissioned to create a 1.2 life size monument, which is a tribute to Texas Vietnam Veterans that presently stands on the state capital grounds in Austin, Texas. 

Working on ranches in northeastern New Mexico has given me the opportunity to meet very knowledgable people in the ranching business that all taught me something I could apply to my art work while always keeping an eye out for the humorous aspects in ranching life for my subjects.   

I am so fortunate to have been able to spend my life pursuing my passion to document the cowboy life of the American west in sculpture.  God gave me the good sense to follow my natural instincts to be a sculptor and the wisdom to know that this gift is a blessing.  

http://dukesundt.com

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