When Brandon Clark wasn’t drowning himself at the bottom of a bottle, he found himself staring out the windshield of his big rig, watching his life pass him by.
His passion was art, and Clark was good at it — good enough that professionals in that world encouraging him to develop his talent.
Instead, the 49-year-old Cheyenne man made choices that nearly destroyed him.
In 1998, Clark was working as a fly-fishing guide in Breckenridge, Colorado. It was while there, sitting around a campfire with his co-workers, that he impulsively sculpted a fish.
“I grabbed a piece of wood from the firewood pile, built a little wire armature, and sculpted a trout jumping out of the log,” Clark said. “My friends were impressed, and I liked it, so we displayed it in the front of our fly shop.”
A fishing client and local artist, Michael Adams, noticed Clark’s fish and was impressed.
Adams is the co-founder of Arts Alive Gallery and creator of two monumental sculptures for the performing arts center of Breckenridge. He invited Clark to work with him at his studio.
Clark took Adams up on the offer and created a sculpture of a mountain man.
“Michael told me I had the ability to capture movement which couldn’t be taught,” Clark said. “He said, that's special, and I should do something with it.”
Adams didn’t want Clark to waste his talent and encouraged him to keep sculpting. However, Clark’s art was soon tossed to the wind.
“I drank more and kept guiding fishing trips,” Clark said. “I basically had an emotional breakdown in the middle of my life.”
Clark ended up entering rehab programs to get his life back in order. He had hit rock bottom and wasn’t sure where to turn.
Brandon Clark of Cheyenne has worked for over 30 years in the trades, from electrician to truck driving, before quitting to pursue a career as an artist. He had been encouraged to do so by other professionals and has finally thrown caution to the wind to be an artist. (Courtesy Brandon Clark) 
Brandon Clark of Cheyenne grew up loving art. At 8 years old, he drew a picture of an elephant and at 12, another pencil drawing won him a school art award. He continued to be drawn to the arts but went into the trades instead. He finally quit his truck driving career to instead plunge into the world of art. (Courtesy Brandon Clark) 
In 1998, Brandon Clark was guiding fishing trips in Breckenridge when his art was discovered by Michael Adams, a professional artist, who invited Clark into his studio. The result was the sculpture of a mountain man. (Courtesy Brandon Clark)
Natural Artist
Clark described himself as just a normal kid of the 1980s who always enjoyed doing art projects. Throughout his elementary years, he would enter and win art contests but never pursued his art until eighth grade.
“Someone handed me a piece of clay, and I made a shark and an ocean fish,” Clark said. “It came really easy, and it was fun.”
After that initial success, he once again set aside his art until his senior year at Greeley Central High School.
He took a 3D art and design class and created another sculpture that was featured as a top art project in his school.
It was a Celtic woman reaching into the sky that captured the attention of his teachers.
“I just took it for granted that I was able to make whatever I see in my mind,” Clark said. “It doesn’t matter the subject or what type of art. I’ve used wood, pencil, and everything else.
“It’s always brought me a lot of comfort.”
Addiction Detour
When Clark was in fifth grade, he was placed on Ritalin, and by his early 20s was addicted to the prescription drug and was an alcoholic.
After graduating from high school, Clark had become an electrician. He said that he was diagnosed at a young age with a very severe case of attention deficit disorder.
This made it difficult for him to focus on things, but he pushed himself to learn his new trade.
Although he was a successful electrician, his life was spiraling out of control.
That was when Clark quit the trades and started guiding fishing trips in Breckenridge where he met Adams.
Despite the encouragement and help he was given by Adams to pursue his art, Clark abandoned any idea of a career in clay. Eventually, his addictions chased him into rehab.
“I was required to volunteer at the food bank in Denver as part of the substance abuse program,” Clark said. “While I was there, I saw a father and son, and it was like the sky opened.”
Inspired by seeing the relationship between the two, Clark called his own dad and returned home to Greeley. He started volunteering at the food bank there for nearly a year before they hired him.
“I started out as the low man in the extra room, and I ended up becoming the warehouse manager of the food bank,” Clark said. “I ended up working there for eight years, and that's how I was able to get the strength to start building my life again.”
As Clark rebuilt his life, he moved to Wyoming, married and had a son.
By then he was 38, but his life was still a struggle. His marriage failed, but he is grateful for his 9-year-old son, a driving factor to finally succeed in his art.
“Through depression and everything else, I still had clay,” Clark said. “I made things during those hard times.”
Between working on his art, former truck driver Brandon Clark spends his time on the river guiding fishing trips. His dream is to use part of his art sales to fund charity fishing trips. (Courtesy Brandon Clark) 
Brandon Clark of Cheyenne created a fish sculpture in 1998 that caught the eye of Michael Adams, a professional artist and co-founder of the Arts Alive Gallery in Breckenridge. (Courtesy Brandon Clark) 
Brandon Clark of Cheyenne quit his reliable truck-driving career to pursue his art. His first piece is a mountain lion that he has dreamt about creating for 30 years and is now becoming a reality. The statue is being cast into bronze and Clark said he has thrown caution to the wind to bring the art to life. (Courtesy Brandon Clark) 
Brandon Clark of Cheyenne grew up loving art. At 8 years old, he drew a picture of an elephant and at 12, another pencil drawing won him a school art award. He continued to be drawn to the arts but went into the trades instead. He finally quit his truck driving career to instead plunge into the world of art. (Courtesy Brandon Clark)
Life On The Road
To make ends meet, Clark worked numerous jobs.
He drove truck in the oil field, did time as a tow-truck driver, hauled explosives for Dyno Nobel to mines across the United States and hauled food to Walmart stores all over to the East Coast.
“I realized that even though I was looking out the window and seeing the world, I was seeing nothing but the inside of a windshield,” Clark said. “I was working for other people and I had no life.”
Deep down, Clark knew he was called to be an artist.
Nearly a lifetime ago, Adams had tried to help Clark not waste his gifts and now Clark felt a deep frustration growing that he was not doing what he was called to do.
“I had something to bring to people, and I had something to leave behind,” Clark said.
He just didn’t know how it was going to happen and life continued to move forward.
Clark eventually remarried and life on the road became unbearable. He finally turned in his keys at the end of February last year and with the encouragement of his wife, Amy Larson, started a sculpture that had been in his mind for 30 years.
“I am trying to capture the moment when a mountain lion senses someone on the trail,” Clark said. “He just rolled over to see what's coming and needs to decide if it's prey or not.”
As the “Eye of the Trail” sculpture began to take shape, Clark also faced the disappointment of his father.
“When I told my dad that I quit my job and took a lower-paying job so I could work on my art, my dad lost his mind,” Clark said. “I just destroyed him because he has always been the kind of guy that everything has to be by the book, and if you don't have everything prepared, then you're ruined.”
A week later, Clark’s dad called him back and asked if he was happy.
When Clark replied that he was, his dad accepted his decision to quit truck driving and follow his dreams. The next day, another call arrived. Clark’s dad had died.
Devastated at the loss, Clark continued to pour himself into his clay. Then came the news that he was being fired from the bronze foundry he was working at.
“Boy, when the world kicks you, it really kicks you,” Clark said. “I needed to get away so Amy got me back on the river fly-fishing and I finally found some peace.”
Rewriting Life In Clay And With Flies
With his wife’s encouragement, Clark decided to go back to guiding and a new dream has emerged.
He wants to take a percentage of his art sales and give back to others by providing trips on the river to those who would otherwise never be able to from Wounded Warriors to Make-A-Wish kids.
“I want to make my art translate into what I do on the river` for people,” Clark said. “There are people who can't afford to fly fish and the trips that bring me value are when I take a father and a son, and I can help them bridge that connection.”
Clark describes himself as an empathic person and that he can feel other people’s joy when they are on his boat.
“I threw everything to the wind,” Clark said. “I still don't know if it's going to work but it's out there.”
It took five months and Clark’s mountain lion is now in the process of being made into a bronze. He is already at work on his next sculpture, a commissioned piece that Clark said tells how Medusa in Greek mythology was actually a misunderstood figure and not a villain.
“I don’t want my son to see me give up on my dreams,” Clark said. “I want him to know that no matter how hard life gets, you should never give up.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
