Bart Walter

Before Bart Walter sculpted in bronze, he had established himself as a woodcarver. In 1986 he signed on as an usher in order to attend a lecture given by Jane Goodall at the College of William & Mary. It was during her visit that she commissioned Walter to make a sculpture of a chimp. It was his first attempt at sculpting a chimp and he was relatively new to the bronze media. Since then Walter has established himself as a sculptor whose bronzes effectively convey emotion and movement to their viewers.

"I strive to capture the essence of a living being to explore some kernel of truth that may have gone unnoticed and to depict an otherwise elusive moment in time. My goal is a distillation of subject until only true essentials are left. If in doing so I can reveal some intangible spirit, make evident the soul of my subject; then I have accomplished something real."

(Quote from: Kristan Clarke, "Chimps to gather at wildlife art museum," Jackson Hole News 31 Jan. 2001: 13)