Rick Switzer (1944-2024) Canadian, "Signature in Steel" Abstract Bronze Sculpture on Base. Signed on one of the curves and dated 1997, along with the stamp "MST BRONZE." 

Size: 16 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. 

Richard Lawrence Switzer (known as Rick Switzer) was born on May 28th, 1944 in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. He excelled at athletics as a youth but discovered art late in high school, and graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1972, majoring in sculpture. He spent a year in Newfoundland teaching high school art and working in woodcarving, primarily making waterfowl sculptures. After that he returned to Ontario, where he worked in the advertising industry for nearly a decade to support his wife and daughter prior to dedicating himself to sculpting on a full-time basis in the early 1980s. From then on Switzer worked primarily in bronze, although his repertoire also included clay, fiberglass, and a variety of metals. During the late 80s Switzer focused on creating monumental size works, including a tribute to orca whales called The Pod, jointly commissioned by Montreal Trust and Manufacturers Life Insurance Company in 1989. He was commissioned by General Motors of Canada from 1994 through 1996 to create A Tribute to Excellence, a sculpture for the Canadian Supplier of the Year Award. This led Bethlehem Steel to commission Switzer to create Signature in Steel, his most iconic and famous work, in 1997. Switzer was a member of The Sculptors Society of Canada from 1990 onward, and continued to produce work at his home studio in Pontypool, Ontario until his death from pneumonia after an unsuccessful cancer operation on November 12th, 2024.