Bronze Sculptures Come to Shafter

As the restoration of Shafter's buildings has progressed, the town has gathered touches of its past around them — 1920s automobiles, wagons, and farm and ranch equipment. The newest additions are a series of bronze sculptures by sculptor Scott Rogers, depicting the wilder side of the West in the late 1800s, installed along the historic streets.

Rogers, who works from a studio in Paradise, Utah, casts his figures at about eighty percent of life size, spending three to four months on each piece — and a larger-than-life Chiricahua Apache is among the works made for the town. His path into sculpture runs through family: his uncle was the celebrated Western sculptor Grant Speed, whose work inspired Rogers to pick up clay more than three decades ago.

Around twenty of Rogers' Old-West bronzes already stand on the grounds of Cibolo Creek Ranch, Shafter's partner property to the northwest, so the new installations extend a collection the region already knows. Set against the restored buildings and the Cienega Mountains, they add another way for visitors to step into the story of the town — part of the vision for Shafter as a living museum of the Old West.