Steve Gevurtz, a self-taught sculptor with studios in Spokane and Sandpoint, Idaho, says his yardstick for success wont be reached until his art becomes commercially viable.


Whats commercially viable to a man who retired eight years ago as the CEO of Itronix Corp., a Spokane company he co-founded that employed 400 people when he left, might be a higher dollar figure than for many artists.


A sculptor for only a year and a half, Gevurtz already has been commissioned by Regal 1 LLC, of Spokane, to create a three-piece, $65,000 bronze shoreline display at Regal 1s recently opened Village at Regal Pond retail complex on the South Hill. Gevurtz says he also has sold several bronze pieces for more than $10,000 each and has been commissioned by the city of Coeur dAlene to create eight bronze donor-recognition books to be placed along the main staircase inside that citys new library, which is under construction.


He projects that revenue for his business, A Moment in Time Fine Arts, will exceed $100,000 next year, yet his sights are set much higher.


This is a whole new world, he says. Im trying to leave my mark in a way thats just as important as a company, product, or service. Im serious about my sculptures and want them to stand on their own merits as fine art. I cringe at the thought of someone saying, Isnt that great for a new sculptor?


Gevurtz says he never even dabbled in art until 2002, when he enrolled in an art class at the Spokane Art School. His skills evolved quickly, as evidenced by the rows of portraits and other paintings he displays on the walls of three third-floor condominium units, one of which he leases, in the Minnesota Building, at 423 W. First, in downtown Spokane.


Mothers with newborns were a frequent subject of Gevurtzs portraits early on, but he says, I never was confident in my drawings and paintings. It was always a retired executive kind of thing. But when I began sculpting I felt like it was natural, that I was good at it.


What he regards as a big step in his young second career is scheduled to begin next week, when The Painters Chair Fine Art Gallery, in Coeur dAlene, begins selling his sculptures on consignment. Gevurtz also has pieces on consignment at the Goodworks Gallery, in downtown Spokane.


Gevurtz says he will cast between one and 40 reproductions of each piece before he literally breaks its mold.


To date, hes cast only five of his sculptures in bronze, although hes working on seven more that he plans to have on sale at galleries within the next three months. He also anticipates completing the bronze Village at Regal Pond project within the next few months. It will include a 5-foot-tall, 700-pound little girl and a 3-foot-tall, 300-pound little boy standing on the shore of the developments pond. Drifting a few feet away on the pond will be a 44-inch-high, 40-pound bronze sailboat, with a canvas sail.


When creating larger pieces such as the 5-foot tall girl, Gevurtz uses rigid foam insulation, rather than clay to work with initially, because clay is so heavy. He glues the insulation together, carves it into a desired shape, and covers the insulation with clay that he then molds.


Those clay-covered sculptures typically are cut into pieces at the joints of the subjects body at a bronze foundry where the intricate lost-wax bronze casting technique converts fragile clay sculptures into rugged bronze sculptures. Gevurtz says all of his bronze pieces are cast at Cire-Perdue Casting Inc., in Hayden.


In the lost-wax process, multiple coats of liquid rubber are brushed on the pieces of the clay sculpture, then the rubber is covered with plaster to ensure the rubber maintains the shape of the piece. The rubber hardens, the mold formed by the clay is removed, and liquid wax is poured into the rubber mold, which retains the precise shape and detail of the clay. After the wax hardens, the rubber mold is removed and the wax is dipped into slurry, a mixture of clay suspended in liquid, says Gevurtz. Once the wax is dipped in slurry, fine sand is dusted onto the pieces of the sculpture and they are dipped in slurry again. That process is repeated several times, with sand of increasingly large granules used in the process, he says.


When the foundry deems the sand-covered pieces to be ready, theyre fired in a kiln at a high temperature, causing the wax to melt and solidifying the exterior shell made of slurry and sand. The bronze is poured into that shell. After cooling, the shell is chipped away, and the pieces of the bronze art are welded back together.


Gevurtz says welding rods used to weld the pieces back together in the final sculpture are cast from the same batch of bronze thats poured into the final mold, ensuring that the welds, when properly applied, wont leave any marks on the finished product.


Admittedly anything but a starving artist, Gevurtz attacks his sculptures with a passion. He estimates he works about 60 hours a week in his two studios, one of which occupies 800 square feet in the Minnesota Building, while the other occupies about 400 square feet in the basement of his home on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille, in Sandpoint. He says he spends as much as 250 hoursworking on one piece, and strives to capture the essence of his subjects by working with live models and with photographs.


I want to accurately record the discipline of the subject matter, he says. I want a trained ballerina to look at the piece I made of Mimi Ewers (a professional Spokane ballerina) and say, Thats right.


One of the seven sculptures he currently is working on is a representation of 20-year-old Ferris High School graduate Nathan Driftmeyer, whos a dancer for the Denmark Ballet Co. Driftmeyer posed for more than 50 hours in Gevurtzs Spokane studio, allowing the artist to work on a piece called Reach, in which Driftmeyer, from a sitting position, is depicted stretching out one arm. Gevurtz says hes already invested more than 250 hours in the piece and basically is satisfied with it, but wont call it complete until hes captured the story in Driftmeyers face. I dont know how long it will take, he says.


Gevurtz says he understands the importance of marketing his art, rather than waiting for customers to come to him.


The art will take you part way, but to do retail you have to go out and let folks know you are serious, he says. By developing a Web site and entering national sculpting competitions, he hopes to make his sculptures well known and soon to be represented in galleries in the Southwest and on the East Coast. But he doesnt plan to stop there.


Ill walk the streets of New York City, he says. It (success) isnt going to come to me.


To achieve the success he desires, Gevurtz says his works will need to be limited releases that capture the passion and composition buyers want. He stresses the importance of convincing buyers that hes a professional artist, with a professional-quality product to sell.


Many of Gevurtzs initial pieces have been of professional dancers, but he anticipates exploring many other subjects in the future.


A lot of artists get a style and maintain it, he says. I dont want to be that way. Ill stay dedicated to getting my pieces right, but I dont want to make them all the same subject matter.


Originally from Portland, Ore., Gevurtz was director of organizational development for the Washington, D.C.-based Marriott Corp. for seven years and later co-founded a business consulting and market research firm, called Gevurtz, Griggs & Anderson, in Portland. In 1980, he became senior vice president of Itron Inc., the Spokane-based developer of automated meter-reading technology. He left there in 1992 to help spin off Itronix, which makes rugged laptop computers, and retired from that position in 1998.


He says his former role as a CEO helped prepare him as a sculptor because I was constantly looking for whats unique about people, both customers and employees. As a CEO, my job was to capture the uniqueness of people and put them together like a puzzle so they would work well. In sculpting, I try to capture what is unique, different, and powerful about the person Im sculpting.


Contact Rocky Wilson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at rockyw@spokanejournal.com.