BRONZE ARTIST

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Randy Puckett has loved animals and the sea. In 1976, he carved a toy whale for his son and his interests in sculpture and whales merged. After several years of creating whales in wood, Randy first cast his work in bronze, in 1981. Bronze is an enduring medium and allows more fine detail. For 25 years Randy has sustained a passion for creating whales through sculpture. He has dived with research biologists and Humpback Whales, been within 50 feet of a Blue whale, observed River Dolphins in the Orinoco and Sperm whales in the North Pacific and Sea of Cortez, Orcas off Puget Sound and Bottlenose Dolphins off Florida. Randy collects and studies photographs, motion picture film and video tape, and current scientific literature on whales. Because of his devotion to craftsmanship and anatomical accuracy in his works, Randy may study pictures of a Beluga’s blowhole, or grooves in the “armpit” of a Humpback Whale. The fun of his research is in the detail and in getting to know the scientists who discover those details.

As visitors walk through the Hall of Mammals at the Monterey Bay Aquarium they observe overhead Randy’s life size Gray Whales and Orcas. In La Jolla, California, guests of the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography see THE LEGACY, which heralds the entry to the Aquarium and La Jolla Bay beyond. At the time of its installation in 1996, THE LEGACY was the only life size bronze sculpture in the world of any of the large whales: at 39 feet 10 inches tall, it was the second largest bronze sculpture ever cast in the U.S.

The grace and beauty of Randy’s work is enjoyed and recognized by many collectors. It is displayed in museums, galleries, and private collections around the world. His work has garnered many awards in competitive art shows on both East and West Coasts.

Randy spent his childhood in San Bernardino, California, he graduated High School in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. After military service, he graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Randy brings a range of life experience to his work. In 1976 Randy returned to California, this time to Monterey on the central coast, where he makes his life as a sculptor in the solar home and studio he designed and built himself.