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Hap Hagood
Over the years, Hap has donated several sculptures to the Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited to be sold at auction at those organization's fundraisers. He has also donated a sculpture to the Rock Creek Alliance to aid in that organizations fight to protect Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area. Hap is a past Conservation Chair of the Sierra Club's Thunder Ridge Group, is an active member of Defenders of Wildlife, and currently sits on the Executive Board of local grassroots organization Southside Concerned Citizens, of which he is a past Vice-Chair.
Having long studied the art of ancient animistic cultures, Hap finds that those sculptors, with the intention of expressing the spiritual rather than the physical appearance of their subjects, were able to do so by creating stylized images rather than realistic ones. Because it has always been his desire to capture and express the essence of the animals he portrays, he abandoned the strict, realistic style in which he once worked for a more contemporary one. By leaving out what he considers unnecessary detail, he feels he is better able to capture this inner spirit, in much the same manner as the ancient indigenous carver---whose work today, would be considered contemporary, rather than primitive. Carving in this fashion, he feels his art is not modern, but is simply a continuation of an ancient art form, giving him the feeling of kinship with the storytellers of old.
"For me, capturing and expressing 'the essence of the being' in my sculptures is very important, in hopes the viewer will not only see the beauty of the animal portrayed, but will also feel its undying spirit."
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