Serendipitous.

That’s the word University of Montana Grizzly Scholarship Association Executive Director Greg Sundberg used when Kalispell sculptor Coby Johnson walked into his office to pitch an idea he’d been mulling ever since it came to him during a Griz game.

Johnson wanted to create a trophy that could be presented to outstanding UM athletes, so he sculpted the head of a grizzly bear and brought the original to Sundberg.

“As I thought about it, I thought I should give them the edition so they could make some money from it,” Johnson said. “So I went down there and waltzed right into the Adams Center. I said ‘Here’s what I got and here’s who I am.’”

Sundberg told him his timing was perfect because the association was in the process of bringing back the Griz Cup awards for the outstanding male and female athletes of the year. It’s been 15 years or better since the last such awards were given.

Come next spring, the first Griz Cup awards featuring Johnson’s artwork will be presented. The association was given rights to sell 700 of a limited edition of 750 of the grizzly sculptures; Johnson kept 50 to sell himself. A portion of the proceeds benefits the scholarship program.

A highlight of Johnson’s latest endeavor was being able to personally present his grizzly sculptures to Griz football coach Bobby Hauck and construction magnate and philanthropist Dennis Washington.

JOHNSON’S ingenuity has taken him far in his art career and has enabled him to successfully own and operate Glacier Bronze Works in Kalispell. It’s essentially a one-man show with Johnson at the helm, but he gets help from his wife, Adrienne, also an artist, and his three children, Tierney, 16; Baylen, 12; and Camas, 10.

In fact, it was Tierney who gave him the idea for an invention he’s dubbed his “pour buddy.” By watching her push a mop around in a bucket on wheels as she was cleaning the foundry, a light bulb went on for Johnson.

“I went out and bought some steel and wheels and actually invented something so I can pour [the molten bronze] myself,” he said.

Normally, pouring the 2,100-degree metal out of a hot crucible that holds 100 pounds is a two-man job. But Johnson’s contraption allows him to do the pouring by himself.

HE DOESN’T remember a time in his life without art. In first grade, he and a buddy would skip recess — recess, he reiterates — to stay inside and draw. He got into the casting business in high school and now is in his 20th year of doing foundry work.

It’s just been in the last 10 years, though, that he’s honed his sculpting skills.

The Kalispell native tried to get away a couple of times to study art, but it never worked out. He’s completely self-taught.

“I never apprenticed. I just picked it up here and there,” he said. “It’s a lot of trial and error — a lot.”

Johnson started his foundry about two and a half years ago.

“Most artists don’t cast their own bronzes,” he said. “I personally know of one other guy” who also casts his own work.

About half of Johnson’s workload comes from outside sculptors. Canadians, in particular, give him a lot of work. That’s quickly illustrated by a trio of heads sitting in mold form on the foundry floor. They’re million-dollar donors for a Canadian university hospital and will be immortalized with bronze busts.

Another mold is gigantic and looks like a rendition of Fat Albert. It’s a famous blues singer to be featured in bronze form in a blues hall of fame in Edmonton.

ONE OF Johnson’s goals was to be chosen as an exhibitor at the annual C.M. Russell Art Auction, a prestigious show and auction staged every March in Great Falls. For the 2010 auction, he’ll be one of the featured exhibitors and he’s thrilled.

“It’s been my No. 1 goal since I started sculpting,” he said. “My goal was to be in the Russell show by age 35. I’m 38, so I’m three years late.”

Johnson has weathered the recession pretty well. When he started the foundry in 2007 he had a small number of customers who gave him a good deal of business. Then it became more customers but smaller orders.

He started to worry in June when the calls stopped coming, but he had foundry work of his own pieces to catch up on.

“This fall things turned around,” he said. “I got two calls this morning from artists saying, ‘The money’s coming in again, so we’ll place an order.’”

Now, Johnson is “on the cusp” of needing to hire his first employee, but he’s getting by with help from a cousin and his wife and three children. He also has an apprentice, Glacier High School student Tucker Day.

For Johnson, art is his livelihood but it’s also his creative fix. He’s working on a sculpture of a fly fisherman at the moment, and an elk.

“I’ve had an idea in my mind for a few years now that I want to do a pack string,” he mused. “I know just how I’d put it together.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com