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Welcome to Sky River Ranch, the home of J.L. Bates and Colorado’s center of creativity.<\/span><\/p>\n As a farm kid, I started Welding in Jr. High School. Later I paid the expenses of a college education by welding every summer.\u00a0 I have worked as a welder in the oil and gas industry, construction, demolition, repairs, and fabrication. In all of that time, I have also been creating art.\u00a0 My first art show was in the late 70\u2019s and in my eyes, was a huge success. It was mostly smaller pieces made from reclaimed metal.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Ten years later, I started making custom furniture, and architectural features for custom homes.\u00a0\u00a0 Many of my furniture pieces walked the fine line between art and function. I also designed fine furniture for a company in North Carolina.\u00a0 Although I had made stand alone, art pieces during that time, it was not until the 90\u2019s that I started making larger public art pieces, and custom park benches. Although I remain a certified structural welder, I use that skill set less and less.\u00a0 However, what I bring with me from that area, is my familiarity with construction, heavy equipment, dirt work, cranes, concrete, and layout.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 1998 my family and I moved from Crested Butte, Colorado, to Fruita, Colorado.\u00a0 Soon after that I was commissioned to build a life-sized rearing horse sculpture for the City of Fruita. I had already been building artistic park benches for Fruita, and soon afterwards I built the first ones for the Grand Junction, Colorado. In all I have built around 100 benches found the towns of Western Colorado.\u00a0 I have had artwork on display for Grand Junction\u2019s Art on the Corner program.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I also displayed and sold art at several Art Shows across the Southwest, from Houston to Denver, to Phoenix.\u00a0 Two of my main shows, the Loveland Sculpture Show, and the Denver Indian Market enabled me to reach a worldwide audience, with several long-time collectors of my work.\u00a0 I created several life size giraffes, (one is in Fountain Hills Arizona as public art there.)\u00a0 and horses from scrap steel during that time.\u00a0 I have shipped artwork to several countries, and most of the States. A commissioned Life and Half sized Moose was my next piece, in Fruita.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n More recently I created the six sculptures for the Roundabouts in Fruita.\u00a0 This was an involved process and I worked with C-DOT, a Landscape Architect, the city planners, traffic control, the crane company, and a construction crew.\u00a0 These life and a half sized pieces show the versatility, and attention to detail of my work.\u00a0 Last Year I finished two more life and half sized pieces, a commissioned bighorn sheep, and a horse head drinking water.\u00a0 Both are over 1000 pounds each.\u00a0 I also have done commissioned project of a double life-sized kayaker, for public art, in Montrose.\u00a0 I finished a life and half sized elk, deer, bear, and eagle for a roundabout project in Grand Junction, a wolf for a Colorado High School, and a Dinosaur for the City of Rangely. \u00a0And a 25 foot trout for the city of Montrose, Colorado. \u00a0I have created thousands of pieces over time, and I am proud to have made that my life\u2019s work.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"