Artist Bio

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In the quaint, rock-bound environs of La Center, Clark County, Washington.  Richard Britschgi has been quietly chiseling away at the boundary between the mineral world and the realm of art, one lapidary sculpture at a time. With a chisel in one hand and a whimsical notion that somewhere in his lineage, the Flintstones might not just be a childhood cartoon but actual ancestors, Richard embarks on a unique artistic odyssey that transforms the steadfast stubbornness of rock into the fluid grace of animals, insects, birds, and plants.

"Imagine coaxing a butterfly from a boulder, or whispering a bird into being from basalt," Richard muses, his workbench a testament to the alchemy of turning the inanimate into a mimicry of life. It's this magical process of creation, this challenge of breathing life into the lifeless, that fuels his passion and sets his work apart in the vast landscape of art. "Every piece I sculpt," Richard says, "starts with a conversation with the stone. Sometimes, it's about convincing a piece of agate it's a dragonfly, or persuading quartz that it really wants to be a rose."

In a world awash with artists of every conceivable stripe, Richard's lapidary sculptures stand as a testament to his singular vision and unique approach. "After scouring galleries, fairs, and the depths of the internet, I've come to realize that my passion for turning rock into a reflection of the natural world is a path less traveled by," he acknowledges with a blend of pride and wonder. "It seems I'm charting my own course, guided by the stars and the steady beat of my hammer against stone."

Richard's work is not just a celebration of nature, but a playful nod to the idea that perhaps we're all just a stone's throw away from our prehistoric roots. His sculptures invite us to look closer, to see the familiar in the fossilized, the animate in the inanimate. "Who knows?" Richard jests, "Maybe one day, my work will be unearthed by future archaeologists, puzzled at finding a menagerie of rock creatures nestled in the strata of La Center. Until then, I'll keep listening to the whispers of the stones, sculpting my own version of a modern-day Bedrock."

In essence, Richard Britschgi's art is a blend of humor, history, and a touch of the fantastical, a lapidary journey that transforms the mundane into the miraculous. Through his hands, stones speak, and the earth's ancient bones dance anew in forms both whimsical and wild.

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