 Entry into a statewide contest for a heroic-sized portrait of Charles M. Russell—a contest he failed to win—provided the impetus to become a "real" sculptor and attracted the support and guidance of Charlie Beil, a noted Canadian sculptor.Both men built foundries and cast their own bronzes, guaranteeing high quality.In the late 1950s the Blackfeet tribe and Scriver conferred about a series of bronzes to be cast in heroic size.