SEPTEMBER 2016
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
November. Turns out the hardest part was waiting until Christmas to show her father the thing.
“I was so shocked and stunned at how gorgeous it was … I
couldn’t stand it; I couldn’t wait till Christmas; I had to show it
to him!” she said. So she unveiled it at a fundraiser the sheriff
had at the Split Rail Links and Golf Club. And Sheriff Fowler’s
jaw dropped. “I’ve never seen my dad speechless before. And
Rylie was the toast of the event that night.” The young artist
referred to the longhorn skull he created for the sheriff over a
six-month period as his “pride and joy.”
As of this writing, two years in, Rylie has sold a dozen skulls
out of the 25 or so he’s made. Not bad considering a piece
takes an average of three to four months to complete.
Of course each work of art begins with a skull, generally
one with only the hide removed, i.e., the flesh is still on the
bone. Skulls are not an inexpensive medium. Rylie said they
cost between $350-$400 apiece. If you want one already
cleaned with the horns polished and clear-coated you’re looking at $800-$900. So Rylie does the prep work himself, boiling
the skull to remove the meat then bleaching it for sanitation
and whitening purposes. After the skull has cured in the sun a
couple of days it’s ready for art and he sketches his designs on
the bone. Then comes the high-pitched whine of the Dremel
tool and the smell of burning bone which Rylie likens to the
smell at a dentist’s office when teeth are being drilled.
While he works a piece everything else falls away and
becomes a blur — he’s “in the zone.” He deftly cuts away all
that doesn’t fit his vision for the piece, or etches in delicate
scroll work. As the accompanying photographs show better
than words can tell, the result is aesthetically pleasing. The
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crisp cuts in to the horn-crowned bone pop against the
austere background of the medium, evoking an Old
West air. Not surprisingly, ranches often commission a
piece displaying their brand front and center.
Asked why he chose the longhorn skull as his
artistic vehicle, he chuckled and referenced the wellknown South of the Border holiday Dia de los Muertos, or The Day of the Dead. One aspect of the annual
celebration is the making of sugar skulls, which in
Mexico dates back to the 18th century.
“I’ve always been just fascinated by them,” Rylie
said. “And I wondered if instead of painting [the
designs] on [a skull] I could just carve them out.” As
it turns out, he could, and having been born and bred
in Cowtown, he naturally chose the longhorn skull. A
variety of animal skulls are used for carving.
These days the 2012 Trinity Christian Academy
graduate is hopeful. He has plans, and they include
carving beauty in to skulls, but his art plays only a part.
“My plan is to continue to better myself and to, hopefully, go back to school,” he said. “I’d like to go in to
marketing, doing some event planning and coordinating. I’ll continue doing my skulls definitely. It is my art
and something that I love, but I don’t want it to be my
full-time work.”
Rylie seems to be poised for good things. Word of
his art is spreading online and by word of mouth and
he loves his day job. He may have had a little trouble
finding his “bootstraps,” but now that he has a firm
grasp on them, he’s busy pulling himself up.