The Process
Below I will briefly detail the process of creating the Bison
Below I will briefly detail the process of creating the Bison
Creating a massive stadium centerpiece is a journey of transformation. As a finalist for the Highmark Stadium commission, I developed a production roadmap that bridges the gap between ancient bronze traditions and modern digital artistry. This is the blueprint of how the “Realistic Runner-Up” bison was conceived—a fusion of anatomical truth and contemporary sculpting.
Every great sculpture begins with an internal truth. To capture the bison’s imposing essence, the journey began from the inside out. The initial digital sculpture was built around a highly accurate 3D scan of an actual bison skeleton. By establishing these proportions and bony landmarks first, the massive silhouette is grounded in reality. This ensures that the raw, coiled energy of the beast feels authentic from the very first stroke.
While my heart is in the physical clay, digital tools like ZBrush allow for a level of dynamic exploration essential for a project of this scale. In this virtual studio, I was able to refine the primary forms—the heavy, grounded posture and the tensed musculature—with absolute precision. This phase is about capturing the “spirit” of the Buffalo Bills: a gesture that is both intimidating and majestic, perfected from every possible viewing angle in the stadium plaza.
A monument must speak to the fans standing at its feet. To test how the digital form would translate into the physical world, the plan utilized scaled 3D-printed maquettes. These prototypes aren’t just models; they are the first time the light hits the form in three dimensions. They allowed for a tangible study of the bison’s “presence,” ensuring that the intimidation factor and the soul in the eyes would resonate before moving to full-scale production.
The digital world is only a beginning; the final character is found in the clay. The blueprint for execution involved enlarging the digital armature to a massive physical frame using CNC milling. At this stage, the artistry takes center stage. Working by hand, I would meticulously carve the tertiary details: the heavy, matted textures of the winter mane, the vascular tension in the face, and the weathered reality of the hooves. This is where the work ceases to be a model and starts to become a living, breathing creature.
To ensure this vision would endure for generations of Bills Mafia, the execution plan relied on the “lost-wax” investment casting method at elite foundries like Walla Walla. By scanning the final hand-sculpted clay master and creating high-resolution 3D-printed patterns, we ensure that every fingerprint and hair follicle is preserved in silica bronze. The final monument was designed to be structurally reinforced with a stainless-steel interior, built to stand strong against the harshest Buffalo winters.
The final act of the sculpture is the patina. Rather than a flat, industrial finish, this bison was designed for a multi-stage, hand-applied chemical process. By layering heat and oxides, we draw natural color gradations out of the bronze—mirroring the rich, sun-bleached coat of a wild animal. Finished with mirror-polished, aerospace-grade stainless steel eyes, the monument was engineered to track the movement of the fans, creating a timeless, emotional landmark for the city of Buffalo.
