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• Happy
Hill Farm in Granbury, Texas - Sold a saddle that has been used to
raise $45,000 •
State Capitol in
Austin, Texas - Bill was
honored at the State Capitol in Austin for being selected as one of
the 12 finalists for Texas State Artist 1990-91. He was the
1st runner up in this prestigious statewide award.
•
The National
Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas - Has commissioned
Bill to build a series of 1 - 100 Cowgirl Paper Dolls with their
logo on the belt buckle and another series of 1 - 100 3-D Cowboy
Boots.
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The Richardson family ranch, formerly called the Scribe
‘M’ Ranch, was once located in Electra, Texas. In its
heyday, it was approximately six thousand acres, and was
home to 300 head of cattle and 25 head of horses, on
average. Bill’s grandmother, Myrtle Richardson (maiden
name Ancell), inherited her ranch as a portion of a much
larger property owned by her father George B. Ancell.
Myrtle’s cows were branded with a running ‘M’ at the
time when the ranch was divided as an inheritance for
the Ancell children. As a result, Myrtle’s inheritance
came to be known as the Scribe ‘M’ Ranch.
Myrtle Richardson’s mother was the daughter of Pap
Carter, who was a buffalo skinner during the Civil War
era. Carter was responsible for leading Myrtle’s father,
George B. Ancell, into the opportunity that got him
started in ranching in North Texas. The acreage that
later became known as the Ancell Ranch had originally
been acquired by the Waggoners and the Burnetts through
land grants in the 1800s. George B. Ancell started out
his ranching career by living in a dugout and eating red
beans, during which time he made a deal with the
Waggoners and the Burnnetts. They agreed that for every
two maverick cows he branded for them, he could brand
each third maverick cow as his own. It was a three-way
partnership where maverick cattle were concerned. Not
long afterwards, Ancell either traded with Mr. Wagonner
and the Burnnetts, or bought from them much of the
nearly 15,000 to 16,000 acres of land he eventually
acquired. At the height of his ranching career Ancell
ran approximately 1000 to 1200 cows on his ranch called
the Wagon Wrench Ranch.
Scooter Bill has many fond childhood memories of growing
up on the Scribe ‘M’ Ranch. It was Bill’s grandmother
Myrtle that taught him to ride a horse at an age too
early to recall. He holds the memory of Myrtle
Richardson in the highest regard. His granddad (W.C.
Richardson I), used to say, “If I had two like her, I
wouldn’t need to hire anyone.” Bill testifies, “She
could ride and rope as good as any man I’ve ever seen,
nearly.” She was also known to continue working at the
end of a hard day in order to feed everyone, “sitting on
their asses.”
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Many have
asked, “What inspires Scooter Bill to create cowboy
ranch art?” The answer is, Scooter Bill is driven by
each one of his own steel creations depicting Texas
ranch life and culture. In other words, he is compelled
to reinvent representations of his own experiences in
steel after growing up and living in the heart of Texas
ranch country.
From the time when he was no more than a toddler,
Scooter Bill sat outside the back door leading to the
kitchen at the family ranch. He spent many hours there
handling and gazing at stacks of spurs left by cowboys
who regularly entered the ranch house at mealtimes.
Ranch cowboys left their spurs outside because hats and
spurs were not worn indoors.
Scooter Bill continued to be surrounded by working
cowboys throughout his most impressionable years as a
teenager. It was during those times of total immersion
in the culture of ranch life that his character was
molded to make him the man he is today.
Scooter Bill gained an appreciation for Native American
culture after having heard first-hand stories and
accounts of Texas Indians while growing up on his
family’s Scribe ‘M’ Ranch. The art pieces he has done
depicting Indian culture are the result of his
appreciation for that culture, and are the result of his
research and collaboration with a few notable Native
American leaders.
In the early ‘90s Scooter
Bill crossed paths with Kiowa Indian, R.C. Athone, who
was head of the Indian League at the time. A group of
Kiowa Indians from Anadarko, Oklahoma agreed to let
Scooter Bill have a highly prized ceremonial pipe, over
one hundred years old, in order for him to duplicate the
artifact in steel. Scooter Bill produced two copies, and
presented the number one pipe to the Kiowa Indians.
Since then, they have carried it to many of their
important spiritual ceremonies. Scooter Bill also
researched kachinas and designed several Indian
spiritual masks. He made a ‘Mud Head’ mask, an Apache
Crown dancer mask, and a death mask that were showcased
in an upscale gallery in Sante Fe, New Mexico. One of
two national spiritual leaders at the time, a Kiowa
Indian, viewed Scooter Bill’s work and recorded a tape
in which he sang songs about the artwork. Subsequently,
Scooter Bill was invited to participate in a sweat lodge
ceremony as a result of his relationship with the Kiowas.
Scooter Bill’s artwork often reflects an admiration of
Mexican culture. Once again, the origin of his
appreciation and initial understanding of Mexican
culture can be traced to his early days in life when
there was always a Mexican-born ranch hand, or two,
working and living on his family’s ranch. Scooter Bill
hopes a long-term result of his work will be an enhanced
remembrance of cultures, customs and artifacts
surrounding the rise of early ranching culture in
America.
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At age
62, W.C. “Scooter Bill” Richardson III has not yet
learned how to single-handedly articulate the story of
his life as a fifth generation Texas rancher and
contemporary cowboy artist into a slick marketing plan
aimed at making himself rich and famous. On the
contrary, achieving wealth and notoriety as a metal
sculptor have never been a source of ambition or a
driving force in Scooter Bill’s life.
It’s been more than one hundred years since Scooter
Bill’s great grandfather George B. Ancell began
cowboying and ranching in North Texas. Scooter Bill
carried on the family ranching tradition for a time, and
then he continued to live on the isolated Scribe ‘M’
Ranch, making steel sculpture, until several years ago.
He ultimately decided, for various personal reasons, to
sell the historical family ranch house and the remainder
of the surrounding acreage to deer hunters. Although
based on necessity, Scooter Bill’s decision to sell the
property will haunt him the rest of his life.
Currently based in Midland, Texas, “Scooter Bill”
Richardson III is still articulating steel into
sculpture that captures the culturally endearing sights
and sensations of ranch life.
Scooter Bill’s life-size metal sculptures of saddles,
both antique and modern styles, typify a cowboy’s love
for his gear, which are the tools of ranch cowboy’s
trade. |
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