I believe that I was born with a love of horses. They have been in my soul since as far back as I can remember. My palamino Wonder Horse was my greatest companion as a young child and we went on many great adventures together. By the time I reached fourth grade I was spending all of my time either reading horse stories or drawing horses and a large Breyer horse collection took the place of my long ago Wonder horse as the playthings of choice. At the age of eleven an empathetic friend of my mother’s had pity on my poor horse crazy soul and bought me an Appaloosa brood mare of old foundation stock. Timberline Sunbonnet, Timber for short, was the best babysitter a girl could have and sealed my fate for a lifetime love of these amazing creatures.
Although I did not grow up in a house filled with art or with parents that claimed any artistic abilities, a great drive to create has always been within me and was always encouraged by my parents. I was a craft kit junky. By the time I reached high school I had the basics of sketching down pat and loved to play with blending to create dimension through shading. By my senior year I yearned to create art that was even more tactile and began to become fixated on learning how to sculpt. Though I knew nothing about the process of creating sculptures, I liked the end effect. Since the school did not offer a class, the instructor allowed me to write up a proposal and I was allowed an independent study time to work alone. By the end of the semester I had bumbled through and created my first sculpture of a ceramic horse. Though stylized and with a funky glaze, he received an honorable mention at the city’s fair and I enjoy him to this day.
Following high school I married and had three beautiful children. Through raising them and spending time with them at school, I found my “adult” calling and went back to school to become an elementary school teacher. What an exciting adventure college was! They had art classes and could you believe I had to take a couple to fulfill criteria for my degree! Here I had incredible instruction in visual arts and following transfer to the university they had sculpture classes as well. Again the criteria for my degree stipulated that I HAD to do an intensive in a particular area so I was able to justify finally nurturing the long suppressed sculpting bug. Here I was encouraged to find and use a wide assortment of materials and to conquer my fear of power tools. Then, there was the foundry class! What an incredible experience it is to pour molten metal! Bronze! The culmination of all of these classes created in me the ability to surmount fears and find resources as well as to be able to use constructive criticism as a learning tool.
Though life sometimes demands that loves be put aside, by the summer of 2005 art had been stuffed and put aside too long. I missed myself too much and while shopping I ran across some oil based clay and made the decision that I was going to take the time for myself. I went on-line to find out how to build an armature, bought materials to create it and Aalef was born. Through the help of artists across the world taking time to critique the sculpture in progress, Aalef transformed into my first realistic horse sculpture. Even better than my dream of creating a beloved Breyer horse!
I continue to create and push my abilities and am pleased with the direction and individuality that I create in my pieces as well as the wonderful expression and character that shines through each.
Jennifer's Imagination
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