| Earl W. Bascom |
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Earl W. Bascom ( June 19 , 1906 - August 28 , 1995 ) was an American Painter , Printmaker and Sculptor , raised in Canada , who portrayed his own experiences cowboying and rodeoing across the American and Canadian West . CHILDHOOD Earl Bascom was born in a sod-roofed Log Cabin on the Bascom 101 Ranch in Vernal , Utah . His father, John W. Bascom, had been a deputy Sheriff in Utah who chased Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch Gang. Both sets of Earl's grandparents (Joel A. Bascom and C.F.B. Lybbert) were Mormon Pioneers , [http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearch/ List of Mormon pioneers] ranchers and frontier lawmen. Earl Bascom's paternal ancestral background was a colorful aray of nationalities and ethnicities including of the Canadian Cowboys," as he was a descendant of European Royalty back to Charlemagne . While Bascom was still a child his family moved to the Bascom Bar-B-3 Ranch in Alberta , Canada . He quit school while in grade three to work on the Hyssop 5H Ranch. Although he was soon marched back to school by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police , Earl was reprieved to get the job of driving an old Stagecoach each day to the surrounding ranches transporting fellow students to and from school. "Earl's father got the contract to drive the school district's coach wagon using a team of horses from the Bascom Ranch" COWBOY Earl Bascom was known as the '' Cowboy of Cowboy Artists'' due to his wide range of western experiences as a professional Bronc Buster , Cowpuncher , trail driver, Blacksmith , Freighter , Wolf hunter, Wild Horse chaser, Rodeo champion, cattle rancher, dude Wrangler , and Hollywood Actor .Roundup Magazine "Rodeo Champion - Cowboy Artist Earl W. Bascom" (December 1995, Volume III Number 2) Bascom was among the last of those who experienced the Old West before the end of free-range ranching. Bascom reminisced: Professional Cowboy For Earl Bascom , ranch life and cowboy life was his life. "The life of a cowboy and the West, I know," he stated.Alberta Beef "Cowboy Artist, Earl W. Bascom" (October 1995, page 30) Bascom worked on some of the largest horse and cattle ranches in the United States and Canada — ranches that ran thousands of Cattle on a million acres (4000 km&2) of land. He broke and trained hundreds of horses. He worked on ranches where he chased and gathered Horse s, Cow s and even Donkey s in Utah , Arizona , Colorado , Idaho , Wyoming , Montana , Mississippi , Washington , California and Canada. He worked on cattle drives out of the Rockies and horse drives through the Teton Range . He took part on large roundups of horses and cattle, and brandings. He made Saddles and Stirrup s, Quirt s, Chaps , Spur s, Bridle s and Bits , Rope s and Hackamore s, and even patched his own Boots .Buckle News "Rodeo Champion - Cowboy Artist, Earl W. Bascom, Rides into Sunset" (November 1995, pages 6 and 7) Earl's father, John W. Bascom, and Earl's brothers were all experienced ranch cowboys. Rodeo Rider A professional rodeo cowboy, Earl Bascom rodeoed from , the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association , the Canadian Rodeo Cowboys Association (now the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association ) and the National Police Rodeo Association . An all-around rodeo champion, he has been inducted into several rodeo Halls Of Fame in Canada and the United States. He received international acclaim for his rodeo equipment Invention s and Design s. "Bascom's influence on European rodeo is acknowledged by the European Rodeo Cowboys Association" Earl's brothers - Raymond "Tommy" Bascom, Melvin "High Pockets" Bascom and Weldon "Preacher" Bascom - were also professional rodeo cowboys and Hall of Fame inductees. Mississippi Rodeo During his college years, Earl and his brother Weldon produced the first rodeos in Columbia, Mississippi in 1935, 1936 and 1937 while working for Sam Hickman's B Bar H Ranch near Arm, Mississippi. Hickman financed these rodeos. Marriage In 1939, Earl married Nadine Diffey, who was part Creek and Catawba . He met her in Mississippi while cowboying and rodeoing there. They were married in Salt Lake City, Utah and raised five children. Later in life, Nadine Bascom became a sculptor in her own right, creating Bas-relief sculptures. Rodeo Clown Besides being a serious-minded rodeo contestant, Earl tried his hand as a Rodeo Clown and Rodeo Bullfighter during his rodeo career. Just after his 89th birthday, Earl was honored as the oldest living rodeo clown in the world.Vernal Express (August 30, 1995 "World's oldest living rodeo clown and bullfighter dies" ARTIST Jim Thorpe's Influence While working for the Nilsson Rafter-E-N Ranch, Earl happened to read a story in a western magazine about Native American Jim Thorpe . Thorpe had been working as a horse wrangler, but got fired. The camp cook gave him some advice - go to school. Thorpe took that advice, went to school, excelled in sports and became an Olympic champion. Jim Thorpe’s life touched Earl Bascom’s. "I felt like I had walked in his boots," Earl said. "Like Jim Thorpe, cowboy life was the only life that I knew. But what about my art, what about art school?" United Lumbee Nation Times, ibid. Russell and Remington's influence Wanting to be an artist since childhood, Earl Bascom filled the pages of his school books in the one-room school house he attended with cowboy scenes. Earl Bascom’s desire to be a cowboy artist was greatly enhanced after seeing art works of the two great icons of Old West art, Charles M. Russell and Frederic S. Remington - both cousins to Earl’s father (Remington and Russell were both related to Bascom through their mothers, Clarissa Bascom Sackrider Remington and Mary Elizabeth Mead Russell, respectively). Charles Russell was on the Knight Ranch when Earl was working there, and had drawn a Sketch on the bunkhouse wall and also finished a large Oil Painting of Raymond Knight on his favorite mount, Blue Bird, roping a Steer . "The bridle headstall shown on C. M. Russell's depiction of the horse, Blue Bird, was the same one that Raymond Knight gave to Earl as payment for breaking a horse for him" Earl only completed one full year of school and never finished High School , but he never lost his desire to be an artist. He subscribed to a correspondence art course wherein both Russell and Remington gave instructions on their drawing techniques. "Through those art lessons these two masters of western art were my first real art teachers," Earl recalled. "In fact the only instructions I ever had in western art were from Remington and Russell."United Lumbee Nation Times, ibid. College Art Training Even though he had no high school diploma, the Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah accepted him as a student in the fall of 1933 . “There I was a 27 years old college freshman who hadn’t been to school in years,” Earl recalled. “I felt like a wild horse in a pen.” ibid But his persistence was tough, taking every art course the college offered. He studied painting and drawing under professors E.H. Eastmond and B.F. Larsen , and sculpture under Torlief Knaphus . Earl graduated from B.Y.U. in 1940 . Later he attended classes at Long Beach City College , Victor Valley College and the University Of California Riverside . Hollywood In 1917, Earl saw his first for the Roy Rogers Restaurant chain. Earl and his son John Bascom were in the documentary "Take Willy With You" about the rodeo riding Greenough family. When the Roy Rogers Riding Stables opened up in Apple Valley, California , Earl and his son John worked there wrangling horses and driving the Hay Wagon . Art teacher In 1966, after getting his teaching certificate, Earl taught art classes at John F. Kennedy High School and at Barstow High School. He also served as president of the High Desert Artists, and later as president of the Buckaroo Artists of America. Among his art associates were Bill Bender, Charles LaMonk. Leslie B. DeMille, Glen Turner and Cecil Smith. International Artist Earl Bascom became internationally known as a cowboy artist and sculptor. His art has been exhibited in the United States, Canada and Europe . He was honored by the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Artists Association as the first rodeo cowboy to become a professional cowboy artist and sculptor. He was the first cowboy artist to be honored as a Fellow of the Royal Society Of Arts of London . In the summer of 2005 , the Earl W. Bascom Memorial Rodeo was held in Berlin , Germany where his cowboy art was exhibited as an honor by the European Rodeo Cowboys Association for Bascom's world-wide influence upon the sport of rodeo. LATER YEARS Always one who had deep thoughts and religious leanings, Earl Bascom was ordained a Latter-day Saint Bishop later in life. As the late cowboy celebrity Roy Rogers , who worked with Earl Bascom in TV commercials and was a collector of Bascom art, once said, “Earl Bascom is a walking book of history. His knowledge of the Old West was acquired the old fashioned way – he was born and raised in it.” Johnston, Ron (2007). ''Famous Mormons, Interesting Profiles of Well-known Latter-day Saints'' (Spring Creek, pages 13-14). ISBN 978-1-932898-57-6 Bascom died at the age of 89 on his ranch in Victorville, California , August 28 , 1995 . LISTS Rodeo Championships
Honorary Titles
Tributes
Legacy
Hall of Fame Honors
Rodeo Innovations Earl Bascom is known as an innovator and designer of rodeo equipment and rodeo gear. His inventions include:
Rodeo family Earl Bascom's rodeo relatives:
Family of famous inventors Earl Bascom is related by family bloodlines to other notable inventors:
Family of Artists Famous artists related by family bloodline to Earl Bascom include:
FOOTNOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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