Austin Barton offers generous donation to the town of Battle Ground
by Laurel Whitehurst, Clark County Arts Commission & the Arts of Clark County, february, 15, 2011

Austin Barton and his wife Shirley attended a recent Clark County Arts Commission bringing pictures of his many works. Austin Barton spoke of donating his labor to create a sculpture placed in Battle Ground. He spoke of creating a large sculpture of tigers and an edition of 100 smaller replicas to be sold to pay for the cost of casting and other expenses.

Now in his 80s, Austin is a well-collected sculptor of wild west imagery and lives quietly on the Lewis River in north county. He designs his sculptures in a house surrounded with evergreens and filled with his creations. He started life as a bigger-than-life cowboy in the wilds of eastern Oregon born into a Joseph pioneer family. He turned to commercial art as a back injury forced him to find another vocation. When he was 56 he made another career change to bronze sculpting and has become known internationally for his action packed and realistic imagery.

For their 100th anniversary in 2010, the Pendleton Roundup commissioned Austin to create the bronze bucking horse made famous by the Pendleton Round-Up logo. He also created a limited edition series of one hundred 28-inch replicas of the statue for sale to Western art collectors and fans of the Round-Up titled “Let 'Er Buck.” They sold the bronze maquettes for $5,000 a piece.

As Arts Commission acting chairwoman, I thanked them for coming and assured them that the Commission's Public Art Committee would explore his offer further.

Who is Austin Barton and Where is he from?
Reprinted with permission from the La Grande Observer
By Gary Fletcher

Joseph – Austin Barton grew up as tough as the terrain around him... the high mountains and deep canyons of Wallowa County.

As a baby he was carried on his mother's lap as she rode a mule into their homestead at the mouth of Spring Creek in Hells Canyon... the continent's deepest gorge.

Austin's 6 foot 1 great-grandad was the first Barton to come to the county.

Austin's grandfather had a ranch on Lower Prairie Creek. He built the first couple of houses in Joseph's Barton Heights subdivision.

Another Barton Heights is a promontory seen from Hells Canyon Dam. Above that is Barton corrals. Both are namesakes of Austin's grandad's brother's family. They had places at the mouths of Summit Creek and Battle Creek, where Barton Cabin was built.

On horseback since age 5, Austin became a ranch hand, cowpuncher and bronc buster.

But there was another side...

From the first grade, a Joseph School Classmate, Mrs. Catherine DeBoie remembers Baron drawing Indians, horses and cowboys “constantly.”

“He was always drawing. He was born artist, with God-given gift. He was very bright, could pick up on things quickly, but he had an added gift of creativity that the rest of us didn't,” she said.

In 1944 Austin left school and joined the Navy.

After Work War II he went to barber college. His first customer was an old man named Dave Tucker. Tucker's thumb and fore finger were blasted off by a shotgun in the Oct. 1, 1896 Joseph bank robbery.

Tucker served his prison time, and went to work for the same bank, eventually becoming vice president.

A 5-year old playing in the yard, Austin's father, Everett, saw the marshal run into the Baron house, grab an octagon barrel .32 special rifle off the wall, and shoot Jim Brown, who died carrying the money.

Cy Fishugh picked up the loot – some $2,000 – and escaped. He had fresh horses stashed, probably atop Wallowa Lake's west moraine about where in 1946 Dave Tucker's son Harely organized the first Chief Joseph Days rodeo, Barton said.

Barton worked in logging, and hauled milk to the Raven Foods creamery in Enterpise.

“You had to carry two of those 110 pound, 10-gallon milk cans, sometimes 100 yards,” he recalled.

He then worked on the Brownlee Dam, then on the Oxbow Dam. There a back injury changed his life – for the better, he'd later learn.

All this time he tried to find something he liked well enough to stay with, but didn't find the interest he sought.

He enrolled in commercial art school, and worked at that for 20 years. Later he'd learn that his talent lay in fine arts – sculpting.

In 1985 at age 56, he cast his first bronze piece.

Beginning at retirement age.

At an age when others are nearing retirement, Barton was starting his career – finally getting paid for what he loved to do.

In matter of years his work was in high demand. He became a renowned artist, with works shown in galleries from Jackson Hole to Scottsdale and Santa Fe.

Several of his editions sold out. One is “Attitude Adjustment,” a statue of a cowboy on a bucking horse.

One stands in front to Joseph City Hall – right where Duncan's barn was. There was a corral in back where Austin started colts.