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Introducing Raelee Frazier
Raelee Frazier with Todd Helton during the life cast process.
Raelee Frazier is no stranger to
long hours of difficult and detail oriented hard work. She has been
serving the Denver area Arts and Museum community as and artist
and mold making specialist for over twenty years. Years of practical
experience in creating life casts for exhibits in national museums
and mold making for the bronze process preceded the
conceptualization of the first prototype for Hitter's Hands.
Sometimes magic happens when it
is least expected and is simply the warp and weave our daily existence
combined with a dedicated, consistent and lasting work ethic.
Raelee Frazier has been fortunate enough to grasp the magic of the
moment and through dedicated hard work has turned one such occasion
into a major life work.
The magic moment for Raelee and
her business Highland Studio was the occasion of the arrival of
major league baseball in Denver in 1980. The introduction of the
Colorado Rockies Franchise to Denver brought a request to her studio
from a Denver area restaurant for the creation of a display of baseball
related artifacts. The restaurant owners being avid baseball fans
wanted to create a theme oriented environment about baseball
for their eating establishment.
Seeking to please her client and
come up with the a truly distinctive display Raelee relied on her
extensive background with Museum quality displays of historic figures
and scientific materials. Raylee's husband Frank had been working
with the Denver Museum of Natural history creating displays
for his studies in paleontology and both had collaborated on the
creation of scientifically accurate artifacts for various museums.
In the recent past Raelee had been ask to create themes using life
castings by several historic museums
Enter Charlie Metro. At this critical
moment serendipity would see Raelee introduced to the former major
league player and newly appointed member of the coaching staff for
the new Colorado Rockies franchise. Through their joint collaboration
the first prototype of Hitter's Hands was created The sculpture
was a copy of Charlie Metoro's hands holding a bat.
The collaboration with Charlie Metro
has endured and prospered through the last twenty years. Charlie
provides introductions and leads to the sports community when and
if needed and Raelee handles with grace and considerable social
skills the various personalities involved.
Raelee is very capable of
turning a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable life casting sessions
into a special event and making the life cast sessions into a pleasant
social experience for the various sports personalities involved.
The end results of this collaboration have become a significant
contribution to the history of baseball and sports memorabilia.
These life cast bronze sculptures
produced by this process capture the touch, power, and detail of
the great hitter's of the game standing at the plate waiting for
the next pitch. Each piece is a masterful creation by the distinguished
artist Raelee Frazier of Highland Studio in Denver Colorado.
The characteristic element that
distinguishes the Hitter's Hands collectables from other sports
Memorabilia is the fact that these art works bring a living part
of the Baseball Player into collectible. In addition a signed and
numbered Certificate of Authenticity carries the players signature
in ink as well the customized laser cut Louisville Slugger Bat and
base. No other sports memorabilia offers the collector three signatures
associated with a single item including a certificate of authenticity
signed by the player and artist.
Hitter's Hands has embraced the
hitter's opposition and created the legendary hands of some of the
most dominate pitchers in the Major leagues holding the seams of
the baseball.
Raelee has expanded the scope of
her efforts to include sports and areas of interest other than baseball.
She has recently cast the hands of footballs great quarterbacks,
golfing legends and the high priest of mountaineering Sir Edmund
Hillary
An article on the process of creating
these bronzes was published by the Christian Science Monitor.
A partial list of museums housing
sculpture from Highland Studio and Raelee Frazier's art.
The Smithsonian Institution:
American History Division |
The Smithsonian Institution:
Natural History Division |
The Denver Art
Museum |
South Dakota State Historical
Society |
Ft. Leavenworth Frontier
Army Museum, Kansas
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Iowa State Historical Museum
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Colorado State Historical
Society |
Akta Lakota Sioux Museum
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Skylite Museum |
Virginia State Historical
Society |
California State Parks
Division |
Negro League Museum
Kansas City Mo. |
To inquire about or to place an order for the
art please E-mail: rafrazier@mymailstation.com
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