Welcome to my new website. I invite you to look through these pages and hope that you may see a piece of sculpture that makes you smile, one that may bring back some memories of your own, or to help you imagine living a ranch life.
This country is rich in the history of Native Americans. This is such a fascinating subject, that I can’t ignore the influence that this history has on western art. The Native American sculptures help to bring a balance to the work depicting the cowboy way of life.
I am a ranch wife with no formal art education, I just have an “itch” to recreate what has surrounded me nearly all of my life. My husband and I have raised our two sons in this family ranching environment. We added two daughters-in law and two grandchildren along the way. Unfortunately, we lost one daughter-in-law to a car wreck and the other to divorce.
For me, separating ranch life from the sculpting world is impossible. One seems to demand the involvement of the other and I am forever looking, watching, studying, whether working cattle, riding horses, or watching the people that are true characters living in this world of mine. I think this “feel” cannot be taught in a classroom, it has to be experienced in life.
I have attended a few select workshops through the years in order to better understand some of the technical aspects of putting a sculpture together; and see what is required to move a clay work through to a finished bronze casting. Sometimes, just to watch the approach to handling the clay by someone whose work I admire, will make traveling to a workshop worthwhile.
Consider the other side of my education. I have been chased by newly calved mother cows, bucked off my share of horses, and put in many long hours moving cattle down the working alley. These experiences have taught me to run faster, hang on tighter, and to always carry cookies in my coat pocket. I have swathed hay, raked hay, scooped snow out of feed bunks, and built a lot of fence. I have also occasionally stapled the finger of my glove to the post along with the barbed wire!
We have recently retired from a 1200 head yearling, hands on, ranch management job which we held for 38 plus years. Now we are on our own little piece of heaven here on the Middle Loup River in the sandhills of Nebraska. This is cattle country, where cattle outnumber people by far. So, of course, we still have some cows and horses.
I am looking forward to more available studio time. The “idea” list is long and time seems to be short. I hope you will feel free to check back into my website to see how new works are coming along or to enjoy a sculpture that is already complete. I want to give you a taste of that feeling of what ranch life was, and in some places, still is. My best to you.
