| Ulysses Grant Speed | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 6, 1930 San Angelo Tom Green County Texas, USA |
| Residence | Lindon, Utah County Utah |
| Alma mater | Brigham Young University |
| Occupation | Sculptor; former school teacher |
| Religion | Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints |
Ulysses Grant Speed (born January 6, 1930) is a western sculptor based in Lindon in Utah County, near Provo.
Speed was born in San Angelo in Tom Green County, Texas, where as a youth he concentrated on riding and roping and hence showed little evidence of his later passion for art.[1] Throughout high school and for several years afterwards, Speed spent summers as a cowboy on an uncle's ranch. He worked thereafter on numerous neighboring ranches and became an accomplished horse breaker and rodeo rider, until he sustained a leg injury.[1][2]
In 1948, Speed began a two-year stint in the newly organized United States Air Force. Thereafter, he completed a three-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In 1959, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in animal science from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo. Before he became a full-time artist, Speed supported his family as an elementary school teacher in Salt Lake City but residing in Provo. "Having come from conservative West Texas, I really wanted to be the world's best cowboy. Yet every time I got a chance to be around any kind of western art, I couldn't stop reading about it, looking at it, and studying it," Speed said.[3]
When Speed began working on his art, he kept the matter confidential from all but his wife, the former Sue Collins, and their three children, one of who is named Boone Sheridan Speed. His first sculpture was completed in an art class at BYU. He kept the first of ten casts and quickly sold the other nine. For eight years Speed continued his teaching job, and then left that profession to devote full time to his art. In 1965, he joined the professional group the Cowboy Artists of America, serving as president and winning many of its awards.[3]
Speed considers each of his bronze sculptures "an original, because in any edition none of the sculptures are exactly the same." His fellow artists recognize Speed not only for his art, but his character and faith. Despite his success in art, Speed comments that at times he still misses the cowboy ways of his youth.[3]
Speed has exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Whitney Gallery of Western Art in Cody, Wyoming. Among his awards is the Gold Medal for Sculpture from Cowboy Artists of America[3] and the Prix de West Award from the National Academy of Western Art, affiliated with the formerly named National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Some of his work can be found in the Whitney Gallery of Western Art and the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The Texas Tech exhibits were formerly at the Diamond M Museum[3] in Snyder, Texas, which closed in 1992.[4]
His bronze equestrian sculpture "Night Ridin'" is displayed in the permanent art collection in the historic district of St. George, Utah.[5]His sculpture entitled "A Stop at the Line Camp" sells for $4,800.[3]
Speed's sculpture of legendary Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight is housed in the Square House Museum in Panhandle, Texas. In 2010, another of Speed's sculptures of Goodnight sold at auction for $5,400.[6]