Page 57 - The Hunt - Winter 2023/24

When Unionville artist J. Clayton Bright first started sculpting in the 1970s, he was spending the first five hours of his day working with horses. “As anyone who’s done the same can tell you, each horse, like every hound or person, is unique—both spiritually and physically,” he notes.
For Olivia Musgrave, it began with
an interest in Greek mythology and the relationship between Amazons and their horses. Born in Dublin to an Irish father and a Greek mother, the sculptor is represented by Somerville Manning. “The Amazons were a warrior race of women in ancient times, and
I primarily wanted to depict them at rest or at play, rather than in battle,” she says. “This is a theme I return to time and time again.”
Of course, not all sculptors own horses or even ride. “Sadly, horse ownership and riding would entail a degree of leisure time my studio work and other activities don’t allow,” says Andy Scott, who has a studio in Philadelphia and is a graduate of Scotland’s Glasgow School of Art. “For the time being, I admire their esthetic beauty from ground level only.”
All the equine sculptors mentioned here would generally be considered realists, but
their styles and relationships to the medium vary considerably. “I work in clay, and I cast in bronze,” Levitina says. “I work representationally from life, but I look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. I strive to communicate the sense of wonder I seek by way of my art.”
Cochranville’s
Rikki Morley Saunders sculpts only from
“real life.” For years,
her muse was a horse named Volant. “Volant was extraordinary,
the horse of a lifetime.”
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