Grant Speed
| Ulysses Grant Speed | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 6, 1930 San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas, United States |
| Died | October 1, 2011 (aged 81) Lindon, Utah County, Utah, United States |
| Residence |
Lindon, Utah County Utah |
| Education | Brigham Young University |
| Occupation | Sculptor, former school teacher |
Ulysses Grant Speed (January 6, 1930 - October 1, 2011) was 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. Throughout high school and for several years afterwards, Speed spent summers as a cowboy on his Uncle Boone's ranch (also the namesake of his only son, Boone Speed). He worked on other ranches, including the 4 Sixes and the King Ranch, and became an accomplished horse breaker. He was a rodeo contestant competing in the bareback and bull riding events, until he sustained a leg injury.
In 1948, Speed began a two-year stint in the newly organized United States Air Force serving as an airplane mechanic during the Korean War. Thereafter, he completed a Spanish-speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, he met and married the former Sue Collins in 1958. In 1959, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in animal science from BYU.
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.
When Speed began working on his art, he kept the matter confidential from all but his wife. His first sculpture was completed in an art class at BYU. It was at BYU that he met the cowboy artist and sculptor Earl Bascom. Bascom happened to also be taking a BYU art class and knew members of the Speed family when he was rodeoing in the Deep South. Bascom critiqued Speed's first sculpture and gave him encouragement.
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