Enjoying the bronze age

Arthur Hamamchian’s sculpture gallery in La Cañada Flintridge offers replicas and some modern originals.Arthur Hamamchian fell into the bronze sculpture business by accident.

A Glendale resident who earned a bachelor’s in biology and a minor in physics from UC-Irvine, Hamamchian admits he is not artistic.

But he learned to appreciate art through his family, which includes several painters.

“I have always been an art lover, and I especially appreciated sculpture,” said Hamamchian, owner of the Bronze Sculpture Gallery in La Cañada Flintridge. “One day I started looking around on the Internet and found there were a lot of bronze sculptures out there and started collecting Western-themed sculptures, lots of cowboys, Indians and things like that. I became very interested in it, did some research and started buying them online and selling them via auction and catalog.”

He was immediately hooked. Always in search of sculptures, he one day noticed a bronze manufacturer on his way to work and stopped in.

The manufacturer put Hamamchian in touch with a craftsman who reproduces famous pieces by some of the world’s most renowned sculptors.

“This foundry only makes reproductions of original art by artists such as Fredric Remington, Charles Russell and August Moreau,” Hamamchian said, declining to name the foundry.

The company was such a find that Hamamchian decided to start his own business by selling its work, opening Bronze Sculpture Gallery about two months ago. His reproductions average between 2 to 3 feet tall and begin at about $80, with the largest, life-size pieces going for as high as $1,500.

But he doesn’t just deal in reproductions. Hamamchian also displays and sells the work of local artists such as Bill Kilpatrick, another Glendale resident.

“Bill’s work is beautiful and I immediately fell in love with them,” Hamamchian said. “The one that stands out the most is a life-size sculpture he made of his pregnant wife called ‘Stephanie,’ his wife’s name. Everybody loves it and is fascinated by it when they come in.”

Not all of Kilpatrick’s work is lifelike. His pieces also include abstract arachnid and geometrical shapes.

An entrepreneur and writer by trade with no art training, Kilpatrick said he was inspired after making wax sculptures with his 8- and 5-year-old daughters.

“I decided to create more things to show my daughters and then I noticed the ideas were flowing like a stream, and so I decided to put together the best sculpture I could possibly create. I did some sketches, showed them to friends, neighbors, whoever, and I would watch their reaction, and if I didn’t like what I saw I would discard it. That is how it kept boiling down to the ones I have.”

Hamamchian said it is stories like Kilpatrick’s that inspire him and make his job worthwhile.

“I am not very artistic, so to me what artists do is fascinating,” he said.

“I always appreciate their hard work and sharing it with the public is very important to me. That is why I was really excited to bring Bill in as a starting artist and have people see his work.”

The Bronze Sculpture Gallery is at 1353 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge.