Brandon Borgelt passion to create was ignited once again and of late he has been focusing more on his creative side – having recently started to pursue his passion full time.
Over the past year Brandon Borgelt has been increasingly inspired to sculpt. The creative process is both challenging and therapeutic… a masterful teacher in many ways.
Commissions are welcome.
Sculptures by brandon borgelt
Credentials
Exhibitions
yes
Brandon Borgelt grew up in Johannesburg and always had a very keen interest in animals, collecting all kinds of weird and wonderful pets, from snakes to goats to monkeys. At the age of fifteen he moved to Durban where he worked part-time at the Dolphinarium and Snake Park. School was little more than an irritation that delayed him from getting on with what he wanted to do.
After school he spent two years in the army and then joined the snake park again. During this time he did a `sit-in` with 24 deadly poisonous snakes, as a promotion for the park. Six months later, restless and full of wander-lust, he took off for the bush where he was involved in a curio venture, game ranging at several private reserves, filming documentaries on lions and hyenas in Botswana and Namibia for National Geographic and the BBC, and eventually wound up managing the crocodile farm at Sun City for twelve years.
Eventually, feeling restless again and needing some new excitement,Brandon Borgelt joined a friend in a real estate development in the Kruger National Park. That didn`t get off the ground and he found himself back in Johannesburg where he started a small construction company which he`s have been running for the last five years.
To ease the stress of his long hours, Brandon Borgelt started `messing around` with some clay, and shortly thereafter `Fool Bull` was borne.
Around the age of 7, Brandon Borgelt came across a bronze Native American holding up a buffalo skull in prayer for his starving race. "I remember being totally mesmerized by the piece and scrutinised every inch of it.
I dreamed of one day being able to create something as beautiful, though at the time I felt that only some god-like being could possess the talent.
I found a creative outlet in photography and drawing and pursued a career in wildlife. For many years I felt really centred when I was behind a camera and then one day i visited a taxidermist who was busy sculpting a gorilla and I related the story of the Indian. After chatting a while she gave me a lump of clay and told me to see what I could do.
As I took my first tentative steps with this new medium, I found that kneading, pressing and forming the clay seemed to come naturally and I soon realised that this was the perfect way for me to channel my creative energy. Somehow using my hands to bring life to a three dimensional figure felt far more natural than trying to create an illusion of three dimensions on paper.
I created and sold a few pieces and then the world got in the way for a few years. Finally the urge to again create something powerful in bronze pushed to the surface and this time I found that everything just flowed, almost like an energy creating through me and "Fool Bull", a prominent Sioux warrior and Medicine man, was borne - working from a single photo taken well over a hundred years ago - into a figure that was cast in bronze and set on granite in testament to the lasting and profound influence that the Native American culture has had on the world.
