Brett Chomer

b. 1960

“While on vacation as a young boy, my sisters and I were asking each other what we wanted to be when we grew up. I looked at the road atlas sitting on the car seat, which had a picture of Mount Rushmore on the cover, and I said I wanted to be an artist and live in South Dakota. After a lot of kidding and disbelief from everyone, that dream was forgotten. But, recently, I recalled that moment and realized I was doing exactly what I’d hoped to do. It’s amazing how powerful our imaginations are.”

“I’d gone on to get a BFA in 1983, and then moved to Santa Fe where I worked at the Shidoni Foundry, learning all the many complex skills needed to create bronze works, and assisted many other great sculptors, like Glenna Goodacre, Michael Naranjo, and Doug Hyde, to name a few. I’m thankful to be making things of beauty, with the hopes other people can enjoy them as well.”

Chomer’s own extensive and diverse body of work ranges from figurative pieces of people and animals to contemporary abstract works, from monumental pieces to miniatures. He is an artist, maker-of-things, collaborator, and entrepreneur.

His work is found in many leading private and corporate collections, including Allied Signal/Honeywell, BF Goodrich Aerospace, and First American State Bank. He has worked periodically for 35 years for the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. He recently completed a sculpture first conceived and designed, but never undertaken, by Gutzon Borglum—the artistic creator of Mount Rushmore.

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