African antelope bronze sculptures by John Tolmay include Kudu, Sable, Wildebeest or Gnu, Eland, Bushbuck, Thompsons Gazelle and Bongo. These antelope are some of the iconic African animals that roam the savannah and tropical forests. The kudu with its magnificent spiralled horns and the secretive Bongo and Bushbuck are well known to hunters. The Eland is the largest of the African Antelope. The great Wildebeest migration of the Serengeti and Masai Mara is a spectacle played out every year for two months and witnessed by many travellers to Africa. The life and death drama of this great journey of grazers across the plains of Kenya and Tanzania also includes antelope like the Thompsons Gazelle and Sable.

Six new pieces in the gallery

Everything’s big and better in the Lone Star State, where last night we weathered a storm with lightning that lit up the sky, thunder that boomed like a cannon and rain that fell sporadically, interrupting our sleep. It got me thinking that four months of this year have already slipped through our fingers, and the Dallas Safari Club and Southeastern Wildlife Exposition seem like distant memories. I ain’t sent out one newsletter since then, so good to see y’all again!

I sculpted a number of small pieces last year which proved popular with folks who were downsizing. Herewith the selection of all six which garnered chuckles, chortles oooh’s and aaah’s and this lovely comment about Spooked from Jim and Diane who are long-time collectors: “We are delighted with our latest Tolmay, it is stunning. Lovely patina. Will find a proper placement”.

Most of this year I’ve been working on commissions, like finishing up the larger version of a water fountain, which is my take on “The Mermaid,” – it’s currently being cast at the foundry. With no constraints or limits, I was able to let my imagination run wild and come up with an entirely new take for the project – so watch this space.

A charging buffalo! Now there’s a subject that’ll get your heart racing. I call my piece “Use Enough Gun.” It’s a reminder that, when it comes to buffalo, you don’t want to be caught without enough firepower. Again have been allowed to really use my imagination on this one having mercifully never had to face a charging buffalo down. Made sure there was plenty of fire power and my clients were accurate with their rifles. Excited to release this piece.

Also working on a table-top piece of running black lechwe which is a really great challenge.

So a diverse selection of pieces to keep me occupied until the end of May when we head to France to visit our daughter Georgie, and then we’re off to Zimbabwe to see friends and family. We won’t be back until the end of July, so hopefully we’ll miss some of the worst of the Texas heat.

2023-05-01T07:41:13-04:00May 1st, 2023|Antelope, Commission, Elephant, Kudu, News, Small, Stories|

Some little pieces in progress

After the epic mission of sculpting the Gwase Bull I was quite happy to shift down a gear or two size-wise and sculpt these three little pieces. It was a great way to ease myself into the new studio here in East Texas and get a good feel for the new space, the different light and the much needed AC unit to try and deal with the crazy heat of the last month. Even my clay was melting before the installation and don’t even mention trying to work a piece of wax for the smaller details like horns on the giraffe and the legs on the dung beetle! If you would like to pre-order any of these pieces, let me know so we can get the ball rolling with the Foundry.

2022-08-10T04:23:29-04:00July 26th, 2022|Antelope, Kudu, News, Small|

Wrapping up 2018 at Bronze Africa

Had a really lovely comment from Barbara and Steve about Closing in the Long Grass. Went something like this:

I wanted to let you know that the bronze ‘Closing in the Long Grass’ arrived safely on Friday. My husband and I are so pleased with it. We really love the sculpture. Thank you both for what you have done for us.

John, I received a book recently from the Painted Wolf Foundation in the United Kingdom. Maybe you are familiar with it. The title is ‘Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog’s Life’, by Nicholas Dyer and Peter Blinston. It is a beautiful book with a moving story about these incredible animals.

Di, I laughed when I read your description of camping in Namibia in the winter time. I know exactly what you mean. I’m sure you and John have many fascinating stories you could tell about your years spent in Africa.

Barbara & Steve

Thanks for the kind words Barbara.

And as you will see, Di and I show no signs of slowing down if you look at the year we had in 2018. March in France, April and May in Africa to visit my sisters and many of our old friends and in November we headed for Australia to visit our son Riley, his wife Laura, Emmett going on 4 and Stella going on 2.

And in between some 7 new pieces. Still waiting for the latest buffalo piece to arrive from the foundry but here are 6 new pieces for you to peruse.

Black Powder – a very dynamic new sculpture of a black rhino

Fighting Talk – a bugling elk and my first sculpture of this magnificent American giant

Heading for Water – a male and female southern nyala

Little Big Buck – a male bushbuck

The Scent of Silence – a new elephant piece to add to the collection

Bait Ball Ballet – and something right out of left field – a sculpture of a yellow fin tuna

Not sure what is store for 2019 but for now, another Christmas, the festive table to consume with gay abandon, vast quantities of vittles prepared by our wonderful women folk who are singular in their frantic need to sink us into glutinous mounds of quivering Christmas overindulgence. Wonderful! The Kiddies open their presents from Santa, break some, fight over others and hide the rest!

Wishing you all a fabulous festive season. Thank you for your continued support in 2018 and very best wishes for 2019.

2019-08-28T16:25:29-04:00December 24th, 2018|Antelope, Elephant, News, Rhino|

Behind the Scenes

A lot of people have started to ask me about the Foundry and what it is like to bring a wax or a clay piece to life. So I have put together a little series of images for you give you a feeling of what the ‘back-end’ of my work looks like.

In order of appearance:

  1. Putting the patina on the piece called Gentle Giant of the Savannah. It’s messy work and the chemicals are noxious and dangerous to say the least but it’s that careful blending of heat and chemicals that brings up all the texturing and nuances in the piece and this is what I already have in my mind when I am still in the wax or clay stage.
  2. Putting the patina on Belligerence – thought it was never going to end but I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to achieve. Very happy with the result.
  3. Cal Paulson handling the heat. Here he is putting the finishing touches to the Stag that was made for the Deer Path Inn.
  4. Sculpting the moose that we will be collecting next week from the Foundry.
  5. The new hydraulic lift we have had to purchase in order to be able to move all 250lbs of Belligerence around. A great tool that will be useful for a few others too. Not getting any younger you know.
2019-11-18T17:45:00-04:00November 30th, 2016|Antelope, Cape Buffalo, Exhibitions, News|

Getting your head around sizes

It’s not always evident how big a piece is in comparison to another and with this in mind I offer you some material to help you understand relative scaling in 3 groups of sculptures. The first selection is of Accepting the Challenge, Jungle Ghost and Gentle Giant.

The second selection is of the two main kudu sculptures and the third selection is of the three warthog pieces.

The images were taken to show relative height and width of each piece.

Hope this helps you understand better the scaling on these pieces.

2019-08-07T00:54:40-04:00May 23rd, 2016|Antelope, Kudu, News, Warthog|
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