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When people describe their favorite art form, they seldom think of Tyrannosaurus Rex or Camerasaurus Lentus. But, that is about all local artist Cliff Green thinks about.
Green, who has been a professional sculptor for over a decade just won best of show in creative arts at the Utah State Fair. He also placed second for his fine arts bronze.
“My passion is here,” says Green who has always had a love for animals, especially prehistoric. “Through the yeaars I always wanted to be an artist.” He graduated from the art school in Phoenix and fell into sculpturing.
As a member of the State Friends of Palentology and the Society of Vertebrate Palentology, he is wll connected with palentogoists all over the world.
He has worked as a professional artist specialzing in extinct animals for almost a decade. Since June of 1999 he designed and sculpted the original bas reliefs of Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Camerasuarus Lentus, that now reside on the East and South sides of the North American Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi. He also scultped 15 species of full size 18 inch to six foot Jurassic pterosaurs for the same museum. They have been cast in the dozens and are now hanging from the museum’s ceilings.
Two of his bronzes were included recently in a book, “Dinosaur Imagery, The Lanzendorf Collection,” published by University Press. They are now on permanent display with the rest of John Lanzendorf’s collection at the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis, Ind.
In the winter of 2001, he completed a large seven sculpture assignment from the Discovery Channel for their, “When Dinosaurs Roamed America.” documentary, that premiered in July 2001. The seven animals included the Triceratops, Torosaurus, Einosaurus, Centrosaurus, Pachyrhinosaurus, Zuniceratops, and the gigantic pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus Northropi.
Green also completed a large commission for the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price, in early 2002. He sculpted and painted nine one tenth to scale dinosaurs. Eolambia Caroljonesi, Utahraptor Ostrommaysorum, Gastonia Burgei, Animantarx Ramaljonesi, Nedcolbertia, unnamed iguanodont, unnamed super nodosaur, unnamed brachiosaur, and Cedarpelta Bilbeyhallorum. All were rendered to the specific instructions of the paleontologists who discovered and named them.
These sculptures are being used for educational purposes also. Copies of the nine dinosaurs will travel extensively in a lecture circuit to public schools in Utah and Colorado, to teach children about natural history.
In October 2002, he completed a year long commission as the art and exhibit director for the Dinosaur Walk Museum, in Pidgeon Forge, Tenn. Green’s duties included choosing and hiring the different exhibit contributors, quality control and exhibit design. He is now finishing another full sized pterosaur commission for the same museum.
Green sculpted eight species of full sized Triassic to Late Jurassic pterosaurs in increments of three, for a total of twenty four animals, all in various flight poses.
His best of show, professional in the creative arts category at the Utah State Fair, was the third straight year of winning the nomination. He has been asked again by the Utah Counsel for the Arts to return as the Working Artist at the state fair in 2004.
Currently he is finishing a full sized Pteranodon Ingens sculpture for the Dinosaur Walk in Pidgeon Forge, Tenn. and two small full scale feathered dinosaurs for the Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden, Utah.