At fifteen, Bob Grieves ran away from his Ohio home and ended up in Western Nebraska. As a gunner in the 8th Air Force, Grieves flew 31 missions over Germany during WWII. After his discharge, on the GI Bill he enrolled at the Chicago Art Institute. Since that wasn't what he was looking for, in time he became a sign painter ending up in Detroit where he lived and worked until 1985 when he finally moved west to California.

Bob's career as a sculptor evolved from carving in soapstone, to working in modeling clay, then ceramic clay, to copper plating, to welding and ultimately to bronze. In his own words, this is how Grieves does what he does: “It starts with the original concept, a vision mixed with emotions. I have always had a deep sense of pride in the history of our country, especially the opening of the West. Visions of those men who challenged the Rockies and the unbroken reaches of the wilderness have always been an inspiration to me. To turn these visions into three-dimensional form is the most difficult part to explain. The visions have blurred edges and the emotions involve abstract feelings that reach back into a whole lifetime. After many sketches and research I make a small mock-up to establish relationship between form and space. When I’m satisfied, I start on the actual piece using material that will represent what I’m trying to say. I take that apart piece by piece and make silicon-lined molds from which I make the waxes that will become bronze. Then comes 'tooling' adding halters and ropes and saddle strings, tooling in the details in the faces. Next comes 'gaiting and spewing' so that the molten bronze will flow properly into the mold cavities. Then comes the foundry work. The pieces become a conglomeration of ceramic-coated shapes with my main concern being that they survive 'burn-out and pour'. The wax is burned out at 1800 degrees. The pour, when bright golden molten metal flows into the mold, is truly the 'moment of truth' from that moment on the work is bronze.”