Bronze Art by William Miles

11/26/2025

"Hunting Dinosaurs", a new wall mounted sculpture of a Komodo dragon skull inspired by a request from the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta.

In April, 2025, the Royal Tyrrell Museum contacted me to inquire about making a cast in bronze of their Komodo dragon skull currently on display.

Coincident with this, the Alberta Craft Council had a “Craft Perspectives” call for entry in progress. Craft council members and Alberta residents were invited to create work in response to objects in museums, archive collections, and other historical works in Alberta.

I had the idea to take the bronze cast dragon skull and use it in conjunction with a dagger piercing the skull. I intended to explore the concept of “Hunting Dinosaurs”.

Fortunately I discovered an academic research institution MorphoSource that on November 1, 2024, released to the public a 3D scanned representation of a Komodo dragon skull.

On May 11, 2025, I downloaded the 3D model from MorphoSource as an artist with the stated use to produce a 3D print of the model to create a mould for casting this skull in bronze.

I subsequently had the 3D model corrected for printing by a fellow in Germany and printed for me by another fellow in Maine, USA.

This sculpture has been cast from 2.25 kg of silicon bronze. The piece was given a liver of sulphur patina with ferric nitrate overtones.

The sculpture is designed to be wall mounted. A shield for mounting was made from bloodwood, an extremely dense exotic hardwood with a deep crimson hue.

For a description of the construction of this sculpture see:

https://www.bronzeart.ca/?s=komodo+dragon

Height: 10 cm
Width: 12 cm
Depth: 7 cm
Weight: 3.25 kg

07/18/2025

"The Dancers", a new small desktop sculpture.

This sculpture is created from two castings of my Bronze Art logo. It is a simple piece that expresses a regular form.

Each dancer is cast from a mould of a 3D model of my logo.

The piece is cast in silicon bronze that is highly polished. A thin covering of Renaissance wax has been placed on the bronze to reduce oxidation.

The base is cherry.

Height: 18 cm
Width: 13.5 cm
Depth: 8 cm
Weight: 395 grams

07/09/2025

Stampede Art Gallery "Meet the Artist".

I am at the Calgary Stampede Western Oasis Art Gallery in the BMO Centre tomorrow, Thursday July 10, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Come visit!

06/03/2025

"Rock Garden", another sculpture in my Amethyst and Bronze series of work.

This sculpture was inspired by the amethyst geode that when sliced to stand flat on end reminded me of a broken vase. The amethyst is from Sidi Rahal, Morocco.

This work is a little different in that it does not specifically feature a bronze casting. Rather, it is metalwork where the flower stems are made from 1/4 inch brass rods and the petals are cut from 24 gauge sheet sterling silver. One inch diameter amethyst balls are set in the centre of the flower.

The centre of the petals was plated with 24 kt gold.

The leaf fronds are cast from white bronze that is plated in copper.

The piece is mounted on Bloodwood, a striking exotic hardwood prized for its vibrant red colour and durability.

Height: 29 cm
Width: 21 cm
Depth: 22 cm
Weight: 4.6 kg

02/14/2025

"Bears in Hiding" - currently on display/sale at Leighton Art Center 23rd Annual Juried Member Exhibition February 1 - April 6, 2025.

https://leightoncentre.org/event/23rd-juried-member-exhibition/

This sculpture is uniquely Canadian. It shows a mother black bear with two young cubs, playing and hiding behind some natural outcroppings in the forest.

One of the outcroppings is petrified wood. The other is a natural outcropping of tourmaline crystals.

For the metaphysical, black tourmaline is one of the most powerful grounding, purification, and protection stones. This stone is useful for people who are experiencing high levels of stress anywhere in their lives.

$1800

11/27/2024

"Chuck's Bonanza", a new sculpture in my bronze and amethyst series.

It is a sister sculpture to "McBride’s Mountain", first cast in November, 2020.

Chuck McBride is a fellow in California who discovers and explores old gold mines from the California gold rush days in 1848-1855. I was researching old ore carts for my Billy Miles Gold Mine sculpture and I discovered his postings on the Internet regarding a cart he had discovered in an old mine.

This sculpture uses another unique amethyst that is ideal for a sculpt of my old prospector mining the geode. I have once again cast an old mine cart and placed it on rails.

This cart is again designed as a tactile sculpture. One end of the cart opens to dump the ore. The cart tips to facilitate removal of the ore from the open end.

The miner is cast in silicon bronze. A ferric nitrate patina has been applied to obtain the rich brown colour.

The ore cart is also cast in silicon bronze. It has a heat patina obtained from repeated use of the torch during casting and assembly.

www.bronzeart.ca

11/20/2024

"The Bear's Den" - a new bronze sculpture.

This particular piece of amethyst was the residue from a geode I cut for another piece.

It was suggested that a sleeping animal could use the rock as a den. As I had just completed my Three Bears sculpture it was a natural idea to cast a new set of bears for the Bear Den.

This amethyst is from Sidi Rahal, Morocco.

The bears have been polished to a high luster. If I used a black patina on the bronze as I had done for the Three Bears sculpture then the bear cubs inside the den would not be visible.

Height: 13 cm
Width: 31 cm
Depth: 21 cm
Weight: 4.3 kg

11/14/2024

"Encased" - a new sculpture in my bronze and amethyst series of bronze castings.

This is a bronze cast stallion set in an amethyst geode from Sidi Rahal, Morocco.

This geode is particularly interesting, in that it is fractured and partly open.

The bronze stallion has been cast in silicon bronze and highly polished. A black patina has been applied to the mane and tail. The bronze has been sealed with a quality clear lacquer.

The name of this sculpture, “Encased”, comes from the perspective that the stallion appears to be encased by the geode.

Height: 27 cm
Length: 36 cm
Width: 25 cm
Weight: 7.7 kg

www.bronzeart.ca

10/17/2024

The Three Bears. One of my bronze and amethyst sculptures. October 2024.

The Three Bears is an eye-catching sculpture of a mother bear with two cubs cast in a silicon bronze alloy and displayed along side a unique amethyst geode. A black patina has been applied. The piece is polished and sealed with beeswax.

The amethyst geode is from Sidi Rahal, Morocco.

Height: 14 cm
Width: 21.5 cm
Depth: 21.5 cm
Weight: 3.2 kg

08/19/2024

It has been a long time since I have provided a casting update.

The last exhibition I did was Art Market in 2022. At that time I realized that the world had changed. People worry about inflation and the increased cost of living. Until such time as prices and wages settle this is not a good time to promote art.

Further, I am now working on discovering the chamber music composed by my great uncle and grandfather. I had transitioned to spending far more time playing my cello to understand my family music. This has been a year of discovery for me and a rapid growth in my musical capabilities.

However, my bronze casting has not been wholly neglected. I have a number of projects in progress.

Nu Wa

Casting for this significant work has started. The large body piece was a cast of 1.6 kg bronze, the largest I can melt at one time. Further, there are 13 hair fronds that attach at the back of the head. I am casting these in white bronze and it will be a challenge to braze them to the back of the head.

The Three Bears

This sculpture is nearly complete. I quite like the way this has turned out. It is another piece in my amethyst series of work.

Stallion with Amethyst

This amethyst sculpture is unique. The stone has lots of interesting perspective. I had the idea to show amethyst flowers coming out of the stone and I positioned a stallion in front. To come are leaves or fronds at the base of the flowers. I may present this piece at the Calgary Stampede in 2025.

Western Chariot

I am working on another western piece that shows a prospector driving an old Roman chariot. I am not sure why an old prospector would drive a chariot, but that must be some perspective of history?

Miscellaneous

I have a few other amethyst pieces planned. One is an eagle with my amethyst and another is a dead bird being born in a nest.

For photos see my posting on my website:

It has been a long time since I have provided a casting update. The last exhibition I did was Art Market in 2022. At that time I realized that the world had changed. People are worried about inflation and the increased cost of living. Until such time as prices and wages settle this is not […]

01/28/2023

The Alberta Craft Council has a Call for Entry open at the moment, closing on February 6, 2023, celebrating the adorned, decorated, patterned and ornamented excess.

𝑂𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 is an essay written in 1908 by Adolf Loos, an Austrian architect active in the early 1900’s in Vienna. According to the text in the Call for Entry, Loos’ ideas were influential to the development of Modernism. Now, I don’t know much about Modernism or anything else related to the development of art. In my professional career I was a computer scientist where mathematics and rigor is important.

𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁; 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻! 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲! 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺! 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲!

I also don’t know what the art folks look for when choosing work for the gallery. According to the call they are looking for work that explores and reacts to the idea that ornamentation is criminal.

My submission will be a reworking of my Mandelbrot Cube sculpture. I’m remaking the cube in copper and submitting only the cube with enameled etched fractal images on the faces:

1908: “𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑; 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠.
” – Loos

2022: “𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑; 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑤𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠.
” – Miles

Adolf Loos can be forgiven for being ignorant of the universal truth of ornamentation. He died before the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot discovered the Mandelbrot set of points and fractals in 1979, well after Loos’ death in 1933.

An 𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 is a 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 used to embellish parts of a building or object. The Mandelbrot set is a mathematical object that clearly shows decoration[1]. The Mandelbrot set is generated through the application of a simple mathematical function. A graph of the set shows the boundary between the numbers inside the set and those outside. Decoration is a verified or indisputable calculation of the boundary of this set; it is a mathematical truth.

Descartes always considered mathematical demonstrations among the most evident truths that human mind can attain[2]. No matter how closely you zoom in and calculate the Mandelbrot set boundary you will always see more and more decorations. If a mathematical object shows infinite decoration then ornamentation cannot be criminal in use, but is rather a mathematical truth.

Furthermore, nature is full of fractals[3]. Flowers, ferns, leaves, river channels, lightning, and snowflakes are some examples of fractals in nature. If natural objects show fractal decorations then ornamentation cannot be criminal in use, but is rather a natural truth.

I present “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭 𝐂𝐮𝐛𝐞”, a utilitarian cubic form that illustrates through decorative fractal shapes the universal truth of ornamentation.

Bibliography

[1] Robert L. Devaney (2006), 𝑈𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑡, in Plus Magazine.
[2] René Descartes (1628), 𝑅𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑑 (Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii), in The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Cambridge University Press 2012.
[3] Voss, R.F. (1988), 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒: 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, in The Science of Fractal Images.
[4] Miles, W. (2013), 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑟, Bronze Art by William Miles, https://www.bronzeart.ca/fractals/
[5] Miles, W. (2022), 𝑂𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 & 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒, Bronze Art by William Miles, https://www.bronzeart.ca/ornament-crime/

11/13/2022

"Baphomet" - cast in bronze November 2022.

Baphomet is a devil type god once worshiped by the Knights Templar. Lilith, a she-demon who was the first wife of Adam sits on his shoulder. The god Baphomet is a winged human figure with the head and feet of a goat.

This sculpture has taken me a year and a half to complete. It was started in March, 2021 and took 11 casting sessions with my jewellery casting equipment to create all the bronze parts that were used in this sculpture.

The piece tested the capacity limits of my torches to get enough heat to braze the sculpture together. The parts were large and a great deal of heat was necessary.

The piece was primarily cast in silicon bronze. White bronze was used for the shackles on Baphomet’s wrists and yellow brass was used for his necklace.

The sculpture was finished with a black patina for the base and a ferric nitrate brown patina for Baphomet’s body. The blue green wings were given a cupric nitrate patina with ferric nitrate overtones.

24 kt gold plate was applied to Baphomet’s goat horns and the horns on his wings.

Lilith was cast in a natural bronze of copper and tin. Her wings, boots, vest, and hat were cast in yellow brass.

The sculpture is mounted on a walnut base.

Over 9 kilograms of bronze was used in this sculpture.

See www.bronzeart.ca

Width: 61 cm
Depth: 46 cm
Height: 46 cm
Weight: 10.5 kg