Bryan MasseyBryan Massey was seven years old when he took his father’s screw driver and hammer to chisel his first sculpture. It was a pinewood carving to honor of one of his six uncles who served in Vietnam.
It was at that young age Massey had the first inkling of becoming a sculptor.
“I have always wanted to work with my hands,” said Massey, who is in his 23rd year of teaching art at the University of Central Arkansas. “I had to develop my craftsmanship. I am still working on it.”
Massey is well known in art circles in Arkansas and beyond. Several of his sculptures are on display in museums and private galleries in Mississippi, Illinois, Texas and Europe.
Recently, his piece, “The Jazz Player” was presented to President Bill Clinton in honor of the former president and in observance of the five-year anniversary of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center.
“I tell people that I am a 30-year overnight success,” Massey said. “God had a lot to do with that. I couldn’t be anywhere close to what I am doing now without his blessing and his grace. I truly believe that.”
Massey, a North Carolina native, describes his work as contemporary and modern. He participates in an average of 10 art shows a year. His pieces could take as little as a day or years to complete.
“I try to carve the stone to the point where people wonder how did I do that,” he said. “That is the question that I want people to ask.”
Massey occasionally picks up a brush to paint but his love is sculpting, he said.
“3-D or die. That was my saying in graduate school in Baton Rouge,” Massey said.
One of the things Massey tries to instill in his students is a strong work ethic, confidence, and craftsmanship.
“They have to think about competing globally not just locally or regionally or even nationally,” he said. “You have art students around the world doing the same thing they are doing – trying to get a degree in art and make a living creating art.”