Sculptor Chris Navarro Shapes Casper, WY, Through Bronze
If you’ve driven past a glowing Sacred Heart on CY Avenue or watched kids scramble around a half-skeleton, half-living T. rex, you already know the work of bronze sculptor Chris Navarro. You just may not know his story yet.
Navarro has spent more than 50 years in Casper, creating one of the city’s most significant public art legacies. A former rodeo cowboy who became a nationally recognized sculptor, he has completed 16 public monuments in Casper, with more on the way.
Navarro considers himself shaped by his mother’s strength and his father’s military service.
“I grew up in a military family, so we never really put down roots,” Navarro says. “Casper is where I finally did.”
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Rodeo Roots
Navarro’s artistic path began far from a studio. He grew up on military bases around the world and got his first horse at 12 while his family was stationed near Dayton, Ohio. Horses became a steady presence, and by high school, he was riding bulls and broncs in a military rodeo outside of Madrid, Spain.
Rodeo eventually led him to Wyoming. After reading about Casper College’s standout rodeo magazine, he took a leap.
“I’d never been to Casper. I’d never been to Wyoming,” he says. “When I heard ‘Cowboy State’ I said, that’s the place to be.”
Navarro arrived at 18, joined the Casper College rodeo team and studied animal science. After college, he spent a stretch riding bulls full time, then returned to Casper to work in the oil field.
A Chance Encounter
One moment altered his path. While out hunting with a friend, Navarro stopped at the Lost Cabin studio of renowned Wyoming sculptor Harry Jackson. Inside, he saw a dynamic bronze of a cowboy on the iconic bucking horse Steamboat. The sculpture left an impression he couldn’t shake.
Navarro bought sculpting supplies, checked out every book on sculpture from the Natrona County Library and taught himself the craft at home. His first piece was inspired by his early rodeo work of a bull rider titled Spinnin’ and Winnin’, which won first place at an art show in Cody. He continued sculpting evenings and weekends until commissions grew steady enough to transition into full-time art.
“You can’t wait for inspiration to hit you,” he says. “I put my hands in the material and start working and the inspiration comes.”
Sculpting the West
Navarro’s work is woven throughout Casper’s public spaces.
At Our Lady of Fatima Church, Sacred Heart of Jesus stands 17 feet tall, with a heart that illuminates at night. In another corner of the city, Navarro’s life-size Essence of Rex glows from within, showcasing a T. rex split between bone and imagination. His Mustang Pride sculpture at Natrona County High School honors the school his wife and children attended, while pieces like 6 Miles South and Spirit of the Thunderbird celebrate Western heritage and regional identity.
Navarro’s newest Casper project, Fallen Comrade, will be dedicated at the Oregon Trail Veterans Cemetery on September 11, 2026, marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Navarro has installed monuments around the country, but Casper holds more of his public works than anywhere else.
Calling Casper Home
Navarro splits the year between his longtime home in Casper and his gallery and studio in Sedona, Arizona, but Wyoming remains the anchor of his personal and artistic life.
“Wyoming is a very unique state because we’re the least populated in the nation,” he says.
The space, natural beauty and cowboy culture continue to inspire him, but the community is what made him stay. “Casper has always had good people and a lot to offer,” Navarro says.
For an artist who keeps horses, ropes competitively and often hauls both sculptures and his horses between states, Casper fits both his lifestyle and his work.
From learning to fly at 19 to writing four books and installing more than 40 monumental bronze sculptures across the country reaching far beyond Wyoming, he considers himself a man who doesn’t plan to retire.
“Casper will always be home,” Navarro says. “My goal has been to leave a lasting legacy here.”
Get to Know Casper
Want to learn more about living and working in Casper, WY? Check out the latest edition of Livability Casper, Wyoming.