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Sculptor Reveals Lewis & Clark Bronze Pieces
By Jasmine Linabary
Bigfork Eagle
Local bronze artist, Sunti Pichetchaiyakul, unveiled the latest additions to his Legends of the Americas collection, Thursday, July 15.
The Life-size bust pieces of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are aimed to commemorate the centennial of Glacier National Park as well as the discovery of the West as part of the next set in his collection featuring American explorers and pioneers.
These are pieces five and six in Pichetchaiyakul’s collection that began with Native American Chiefs, including Chief Sitting Bull, Chief Little Horse, Crazy Horse, and Chief Joseph.
“There are endless possibilities of amazing individuals,” said Erica Pichetchaiyakul, Sunti’s wife and gallery manager who spoke and interpreted for Sunti. “He has so much fun learning about these American heroes.”
Sunti began work on Lewis and Clark in January. Each of the bronze busts, or sculptures from the middle of the chest and up, in Sunti’s collection sell for anywhere from $32,000 to $52,000. The chief sculptures have removable accessories, making them even more customizable for their owners. Twenty-five “artist renderings” will be made of each sculpture. Each is unique and customized by Sunti.
“No two sculptures are alike,” Erica said.
The next piece will be Sacajawea with her child. Sunti hopes to, in a way, honor and sculpt his own daughter, who is currently 20 months old, for the piece.
Sunti is known for his ability to make his sculptures, whether in bronze or resin, appear lifelike down to the lines in their skin, a particular challenge when working with bronze.
In his Native Thai culture, to be made into a sculpture is considered a deep honor and it is believed to embody the individual[s spirit, once a ceremony is performed. Gratitude is shown to an influential community member by having a sculpture made in their honor.
Prior to his move to the United States, Sunti worked primarily in creating fiverglass resin sculptures, particularly Buddhist monks, that look and feel lifelike, in addition to mirroring their real-life models.
He was able to bring one over with him, and it sits in the back of his new gallery on Electric Avenue in Twin Birch Square, startling passersby who mistake it for a real person.
Sunti, whose sculpting skills had a humble beginning, playing with clay in the river near his home village in Thailand, is known as the “Amazing One” in his home country for his ability to fashion life out of clay.
He has made dozens of television appearances in Asia and has been written about in numerous magazines and newspapers worldwide. He also earned attention and acclaim for his ability to sculpt a block of clay into a life-size bust of anyone in just 25 minutes.
“When I work, with clay, I enter into a soothing and intimate partnership of mutual respect and recognition,” Sunti writes in his artist statement. “In synchronized movements, my hands flow with the clay, massaging and fashioning the earth as it submissively awaits resurrection. This intimacy is what I love about sculpture; the profound and mesmerizing alliance I remember even as a four-year-old, playing by a river in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand…Sculpting sets free my passion for capturing and recreating natural beauty, inspires my imagination, and nurtures my soul in a meditative embrace.”
Today, he is trying to make a name for himself in the United States. He relocated from Thailand to Bigfork with his wife in 2008 and Sunti began work on his Legends of the Americas collection in 2009. “We came with a single monk (sculpture) and a little baby on the way,” Erica said.
In the United States, he adopted a new medium to work with – bronze – and a new subject matter.
Back in Thailand as a kid, Sunti played cowboys and Indians with his friends, which was partially his draw and interest in sculpting key figures in the history of the American West.
Sunti relocated his gallery to Electric Avenue from Saddlehorn’s Artisan Village this spring, a move aimed to make him easier for customers to locate. We’re very pleased with the space. We’ve had more traffic,” Erica said. “It’s been really rewarding for Sunti.”
"Thai Artist Making His Mark in Montana," Sereechai Thai Newspaper, Los Angeles, CA (October 2009) (Link)
"Sculptor, Sunti Pichetchaiyakul Revives the Spirit of Native American Chiefs," Sereechai Thai Newspaper, Los Angeles, CA (November 2009) (Link)
Cowboys and Indians Magazine
Sunti Pichetchaiyakul, a native Thai sculptor, has always been fascinated by the American West. But, he explains, "it was not until I moved to America that I learned more about the Native Americans' struggle to preserve their freedom and traditional ways of life. I felt compelled to share their stories with the world." Sunti recently unveiled "Legends of the Americas," a series of bronze busts honoring the men and women who made an impact on the American continent. Beginning the series with Native American Chiefs, Sunti eventually intends to sculpt pioneers, cowboys, women of the west, and even outlaws, lawmen, presidents, and inventors.
He relishes the artistic challenge of sculpting historic figures. "I believe humans are the most difficult subjects to sculpt, which is precisely why I specialize in recreating people," Sunti says. His words choice is deliberate: From the scar above Chief Joseph's lip to Chief Sitting Bull[s birthmark, Sunti painstakingly recreates an exact likeness of the individual. However, no two busts of the same individual are alike. The head may be tilted slightly in one edition but looking straight ahead in another. Jewelry may be altered or patinas changed. Sunti's designs even allow the individual to change the appearance of a bust. Chief Joseph's feathers are removable so the collector can alternate between displaying the Chief in his classic headdress or wearing his unforgettable earrings.
The realistic busts imitate the chiefs in more than physical terms. As Sunti points out, "My sculptures portray the chiefs' emotions, personality, and struggle in their faces. I strived to create a very assertive, fearless, and clever Chief Sitting Bull, while Chief Joseph appears proud, yet more passive and sorrowful." Standing in the presence of these lifelike busts allows the viewer to absorb a sense of each chief's character, body language, and spirit, making the experience as much about history and veneration as art appreciation.
Sculpting legend: From Thailand to Bigfork, “Amazing One’ creates lifelike replicas
Written by VINCE DEVLIN / Photographed by LINDA THOMPSON of the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, August 29,
BIGFORK - After giving birth to five children, the Thai woman had her tubes tied.
Four years later, she gave birth to her sixth child, a son.
Given that there should have been no way for it to happen, she and her husband considered him a miracle baby. They named him Sunti, but they also gave him a nickname - "Nueng," which means "One" in the Thai language.
The joke was that if this was the start of another batch of children, Sunti would be No. 1.
Sunti Pichetchaiyakul grew up in a poor village in northeast Thailand. There was no electricity, no running water. If children wanted toys, they made their own.
Sunti sculpted his out of clay from the river from the time he was 2. By school age, other children in the village were offering him a baht or two to buy the toys he formed from the clay.
As he grew older, Sunti's parents - his father was a teacher, his mother a seamstress - wondered, given the circumstance, if there hadn't been a special reason he had been born.
You can find the answer on a mountainside just south of Bigfork.
Click here to read the full story in The Missoulian
"A day without creating is incomplete."
Humble Beginnings
For Sunti Pichetchaiyakul (Peach-et-chai-ya-goon), creating began at the very young age of two years old, making “things’ out of the clay found along the river banks of his native providence in Thailand. By the age of four, these clay objects became identifiable as his favorite subjects: elephants, UFO’s and Super Heroes, and by age six, he began earning small amounts of money selling his creations to friends. By age seven, Sunti was winning art contests, and at age 16, he received his first commissioned assignment.
Those early commissioned pieces were pivotal in Sunti developing the incredibly broad range of mediums (sculpture, bronze, fiberglass resin, oils, acrylics, and pencil) within which he works. However, let us not get ahead of the story.
Click here to read the full story in Flathead Living
Art really imitating life
Thai sculptor Sunti Pichetchaiyakul makes his mark in Bigfork
By: Erika Fredrickson
Outside Sunti Pichetchaiyakul’s art studio, a monk wrapped in an orange robe sits meditating on a grassy knoll. He looks ancient and content, and I’m careful not to bother him as I step out of my car.
Pichetchaiyakul and his wife, Erica, emerge from the small cabin studio to greet me. They pay no mind to the monk, talking to me instead about the studio situated in what’s known as the Saddlehorn eco-development just outside of Bigfork. Eventually, though, they beckon me over to the monk and, grinning, Pichetchaiyakul drags the elderly man into the sunlight.
He’s not real.
Instead, it’s the likeness of Luang Boo Luan, an 87-year-old Thai monk. Pichetchaiyakul made the statue with fiberglass resin, using a process that includes clay, wax and plaster. But even up close it’s hard to tell. The monk’s browned skin shows liver spots and light blue veins. His collarbone juts out just right, and delicate white eyelashes curl from his dark, downturned eyes. Even knowing that Pichetchaiyakul creates sculptures didn’t prepare me for such realistic work.
Read the full story at Missoula News
Art on display in Bigfork
8, KPAX
October 1, 2008
Angela Monroe Reporting
An internationally acclaimed artist who creates life-like sculptures calls the Bigfork home.
Sunti Pichetchaiyakul was born in Thailand in the 1970's and his artwork is seen around the world and in more than 50 temples in Thailand.
Right now, you can see some of his work at the Saddlehorn Gallery in Bigfork.
All Thai’d up in art: festival displays variety of artwork
The Vox, Spokane, WA
September 2008
Staff Writer Emily Steckler
On the weekend of Aug. 2, the annual two-day art festival in Bigfork, MT displayed a wide variety of artwork ranging from mirrors made of recycled cans, to artists who painted with cattle markers.
All eyes seemed to be attracted to one of the more unique presenters, Sunti Pichetchaiyakul of Thailand, and his American wife, Erica. One of his more popular pieces is the sculpture of an 86-year old holy monk from Thailand. The international Thai artist loves to see the expressions of people’s faces, as they stand mesmerized by the meditating monk.
Once they realize the monk is just a sculpture, the “holy cows” and “oh my god’s” start pouring out. Intricate details include blue-purple veins in the arms, age spots on the face, cracks in the lips, wrinkles in the forehead, and even the dark purple eyelids as if the monk hasn’t gotten enough sleep.
“The reaction is always similar, but it’s quite encouraging to see individuals from all over the world, speaking different languages and respecting different religions all experiencing my work with astonishment,” Sunti said.
Even though Erica tries to persuade the viewers to come into the booth and enjoy Sunti’s other paintings and oils, the viewers cannot seem to take their eyes off the monk.
Born in Chumpuang, Nakhon Ratchasima, Sunti started drawing at age two, but the pictures did not become animals and people until age four. He remembers sculpting at age four with clay from his local river.
“I enjoyed sculpting Buddhas and elephants,” Sunti Said. At age six years old he was selling sculptures of UFO’s, spaceships, and superheroes to friends; at seven he won a regional art contest.
“Whatever I have to create art with is whatever I use. I love creating my own designs with recycled materials,” Sunti said.
“It’s very powerful and spiritually gratifying to be taken away with Sunti to another dimension through his artwork,” Erica said. “From blades of grass, the texture of sand, shadows on the wall, and backlight of a tree... Sunti sees the world as if experiencing it for the first time.”
His meditating monk, mostly made of clay, is just one step in the multi-step process in creating fiberglass resin sculptures. The process also uses wax, plaster, and concrete.
He begins the process taking many pictures from numerous angles of his subject. He then attaches his clay to a wooden support structure quickly so the cay does not dry out. He immediately coats the clay in plaster. A wax mold is formed to be used for creating the fine detail. The wax gets coated in another plaster coat to create a mold of silicone and then a fiberglass model. He paints the sculpture with acrylic paint to produce the final product.
At age 36, Sunti has produced artwork for over 50 temples in Thailand. He has been featured on television in Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, and also UBC and CNN World. Sunti owns two galleries in Bangkok and hopes to temporarily get a studio in Flathead Valley within the next month or two.
“I am so eager to see the world and continue my art wherever I go. I love to see different styles of art integrated with culture,” Sunti said.
Creation Arts Center Celebrates One Year Anniversary
Posted: Monday, August, 25, 2008
On August 9th, 2008, Sunti teamed up with Charlie Sitting Bull at Creation Arts Center, West Helena, and held a magnificent and educational performance for the Center’s one year anniversary. Charlie Sitting Bull, great, great grandson of Chief Sitting Bull (1837-1890), coalesced his ancestral wisdom and Lakota heritage with the Buddhist traditions and artistic mindfulness of the Thai sculptor, leaving all in attendance deeply moved and awestruck.
The Center, founded in 2006, is a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging clay art participation and education for children and developmentally challenged individuals. Designed to promote self-expression and inner healing through the arts, while accommodating all ages, abilities, and academic levels, Creation Arts Center provides a safe and welcoming environment and offers pottery classes to the public. Leslie L. Elford, Executive Director, and his wife, Donna Elford, Board President, celebrated Creation Arts Center’s first anniversary with a sensational exhibition of cultural immersion and artistic expression. The Ribbon Cutting ceremony was covered by Beartooth News, Channel 12, and took place Friday, August 8th.
Without question, Charlie Sitting Bull’s dancing, drumming, and story telling, in conjunction with international artist, Sunti Pichetchaiyakul’s sculpting demonstration and display of paintings, the Elfords organized and coordinated a lively and diverse selection of literary, culinary, horticultural, visual, and performing art. To top it off, Leslie’s band, performed live soft rock music during dinner hours, in which guests were served bison, elk and beef soup, organically grown salads, and homemade cakes.
The exclusive event began as Charlie Sitting Bull, dressed in his traditional and colorful garments, performed the long-established grass dance, intended to prepare the grass of a sacred site prior to a Lakota ceremony. Set in front of a traditional teepee and accompanied by his girlfriend, Wendy Willow, Charlie discussed cultural stereotypes and misconceptions of Indians. Upholding equal distinction, humility, and intuition as the celebrated Chief Sitting Bull, Charlie spoke with sincerity and eloquence as he greeted the local Assiniboines, Blackfeet, Cherokee, and Nez Perce, and welcomed all other visitors with time-honored stories of Indian customs. An advisor and professor at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Washington, and with a background in psychology, Charlie’s insight and light-heartedness enthralled his viewers as he shared his life experiences.
Following Charlie’s remarkable presentation, the crowd left the teepee and filtered into the art gallery, embellished with international artist, Sunti Pichetchaiyakul’s Native American paintings. The live sculpting began once Sunti had unveiled his commissioned bust of Chief Sitting Bull, currently in its first stage of clay, and selected Charlie Sitting Bull as his model for the demonstration. He explained to the crowd, translated by his American wife, Erica (Dao) Pichetchaiyakul, that his speed in sculpting has caused television stations from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to film Sunti in Thailand; his fastest time being 27 minutes. Without a moment to spare, the audience set their watches as Sunti plunged his hands into the clay and began sculpting Charlie Sitting Bull. The infusion of spiritual connectedness and untainted energy between such influential men produced jocular chemistry and a playful atmosphere. To the surprise of the audience, Sunti completed an impressionistic bust in only 26 minutes, identically resembling his model.
Undeniably, the evening included not only art and entertainment, but also a rewarding and educational experience, embracing spiritual and cultural infusion. Indeed, both Charlie Sitting Bull and Sunti Pichetchaiyakul abolished the separation between religion, race, and cultural differences, and led the audience to a more meaningful dimension at Creation Arts Center.
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Get Real
Posted: Monday, Jul 28, 2008
By CANDACE CHASE/The Daily Inter Lake
Thai artist’s monk elicits oohs and ahhs Thai artist Sunti Pichetchaiyakul loves to watch the reactions as people eye the meditating monk at his booth at local art fairs.
He laughed, mimicking their expressions of amazement when they realize the monk is a sculpture. From the veins on his hands to the wrinkles and age spots on his face, the aged monk speaks to the mastery of his creator.
Click Here to read the full story.