The Story Behind Chris Navarro's 15-Foot Bronze Of Steamboat At U.W.

Bronze sculptor Chris Navarro has been creating larger-than-life monuments of people and animals for 40 years. His latest monument could become the most iconic of his storied career.

“A Deep Seat and a Long Rein” is a 15.5-foot-tall monument that stands in the new roundabout at Ivinson Avenue and 15th Street on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie. It’s more than just another broze cowboy, but the physical embodiment of Wyoming’s iconic rodeo bronc Steamboat.

 “My emphasis was to make my sculpture as much like the logo as possible, and that's what I did,” Navarro told Cowboy State Daily.

Navarro’s busier than he’s ever been, but bringing one of Wyoming’s most recognizable images from the page to the pedestal was a particularly special commission for the nationally-respected artist from Casper.

As he focuses on his own artistic legacy, “A Deep Seat and a Long Rein” will stand out, personally and professionally, as one of his greatest works, he said.

“When you do public art, you hope the public gets to see it,” he said. “I’m a Wyoming guy, and I can’t think of a better place for this piece.”

Honoring The Artist

Navarro is one of Wyoming’s most renowned and sought-after bronze sculptors. 

His work in the Cowboy State includes “6 Miles South,” a bronze sculpture at the entrance of the Central Wyoming Fairgrounds in Casper, and “Champion Lane Frost,” a 15-foot monument dedicated to rodeo legend Lane Frost in Cheyenne.

In 2024, Navarro was approached by the Double 4 Foundation for another ambitious commission.

“They wanted to honor Allen True with a monument of ‘Steamboat,’ Navarro said. “He was the artist hired by the State of Wyoming to make the design in 1936.”

In 1936, Allen True, a Denver-based artist with a family legacy in Wyoming, was hired by Wyoming Secretary of State Lester C. Hunt to design an image for the Wyoming state license plate. His design of a bucking horse and rider has been adorning the Cowboy State’s license plates ever since.

“It's the longest-running logo of any license plate in the United States,” Navarro said.

True got paid $75, worth roughly $1,724 today, for his image. It has become Wyoming’s most treasured and recognizable icon worldwide, embodying the "cowboy spirit" of the American West.

The Double 4 Foundation had good reason to honor Allen True. David True, one of the foundation’s trustees, is Allen True’s great-nephew.

“He wanted to honor his great uncle for coming up with a design and the drawing, so they asked me to turn it into a bronze monument,’ Navarro said.

On Campus

The University of Wyoming (UW) has been using the image of a bucking horse since 1921. That design was inspired by a photograph of a cowboy riding the wild “Steamboat,” a black colt with three white stockings, during a rodeo in Sheridan in 1903.

The identity of the cowboy in True’s image is still debated, but the consensus is that the horse is Steamboat. Regardless of identities, the image of the outlaw horse and commanding and confident rider became the first “cowboy image” that introduced Wyoming to the wider world.

UW quickly adopted True’s “Steamboat” as its official emblem. That made the UW campus the perfect spot to place a three-dimensional monument of the ubiquitous image.

A new roundabout was being constructed at the intersection of 15th Street and Ivinson Avenue in Laramie, and everyone wanted it to be centered around something special. That’s why the Double 4 Foundation approached Navarro to bring “Steamboat” to life in bronze.

2D To 3D

Taking “Steamboat” from a two-dimensional silhouette to a three-dimensional, detailed sculpture was a tricky task, even for a sculptor as skilled as Navarro. He felt the importance of his task immensely.

“I’ve got Steamboat decals on my car,” he said. “I painted it on the tail of my airplane. That’s the coolest logo going, in my opinion.”

True didn’t directly copy the 1903 photograph for his Steamboat drawing but used it as inspiration for an image representing Wyoming. That was at the direction of Hunt.

“I have, in the intervening years, been pleased that I had Mr. True do the drawing rather than use a photograph of a bucking horse,” Hunt said of the iconic image, “Mr. True, through his knowledge of art, understood what design could be stamped out in steel and retain its identity at some distance.”

True’s artistic liberties included only one bridle rein, only one front left foot on the horse, and with only one of the rider’s feet. It was meant to be a striking silhouette rather than a detailed portrait of horse and rider.

Navarro had to account for these details while sculpting the monument. It had to look good from all angles, not just from the same right-side perspective of the image.

“The drawing of Steamboat is more of an abstract deal,” he said. “We wanted to make it look as close to the logo as possible but still make it life-like.”

Getting Steamboat right was easy enough, given the historical images that exist of the colt. As for the rider, Navarro decided to sculpt a Wyoming everyman rather than err towards one of the still-debated riders from the original photos.

It took over a year for Navarro to create “A Deep Seat and a Long Rein.” It started as a small, to-scale clay sculpture that transitioned into a full-scale clay sculpture for the bronze pour.

Navarro poured and finished the 15.5-foot bronze monument at Eagle Bronze in Lander, which is currently the only Wyoming-based foundry capable of lost-wax casting of a project this size.

“'I’ve been working with Eagle Bronze for almost three and a half years,” he said. “They’re the last foundry in Wyoming that could do it.”

Once it was welded together and patinaed, “A Deep Seat and a Long Rein,” complete with Double 4 and Bar UW brands, was ready to be installed at the Laramie intersection.

After almost a century of iconography, “Steamboat” had been taken from a license plate emblem to a fully-realized monument for the people of Wyoming.

A Great Ride

“A Deep Seat and a Long Rein” was dedicated at the 15th Street and Ivinson Avenue roundabout on Oct. 13. It was a cold, rainy day, but that didn’t do anything to dampen Navarro’s spirit.

“The monument is in a very prominent place,” he said. “Cars are going to be driving by it all the time, so thousands of people will see it every day. Hopefully, it'll make people feel good about being from Wyoming.”

 “A Deep Seat and a Long Rein” was the 40th monument of Navarro’s 40-year career. The symbolism wasn’t lost on him, especially as he considers his own artistic legacy.

“I have three more monuments to install before next September,” he said. “I am busier and working harder than ever.”

Navarro doesn’t believe he’ll ever truly retire, but he recognizes that no one can go on forever.

“I turned 70 years old in January, and I’ve been a professional sculptor for 40 years,” he said. “I don’t know how many more monuments I have in me, so I’m working on a lot of them right now.”

Navarro has been “concentrating his career” on larger-scale monuments as he secures his own artistic legacy in Wyoming, much like Allen True did with the beloved “Steamboat.”  Regardless of his past and future pieces, “A Deep Seat and a Long Rein” will hold a special place in his extensive portfolio of bronze sculptures and monuments.

“It’s been nearly 90 years since the ‘Steamboat’ drawing was first done,” he said. “Everybody recognizes ‘Steamboat.’  “It’s more than just a symbol of UW. It’s a symbol of Wyoming. I have been blessed to make a living doing what I love and sculpt my favorite symbol for the people of Wyoming.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.