And It Was the Open Range I Loved
Pit fired ceramics, pine needles, artificial sinew, devil’s claw, bone, internal cow horn bone, brass charms, hemalyke, wood, shell, glass beads, landscape stone and crazy horse stone.
Approx. size – 22″w x 17″w x 11″h
Completed 2010
Once in awhile, a ceramic base will fail to speak to me and then in the end, it will become one of my favorite pieces. “And It Was the Open Range I Loved” is one such sculpture. The ceramic base has some of the most interesting firing colors and marks that I have achieved to date. Overall it has a blueish/black tone to it, all the more surprising because it is a red clay base. Along with this unique, one of a kind color, there are tones of red, sage, coppers and pinks. The ceramic itself reminded me early on of an old cow hide that had been bruised and scarred by life on the range and barbed wire. The basket portion carried on that range feeling as it simulates a cowboy’s rope, wound round and round. The final embellishments are remnants of what one might find tucked down in a canyon – devil’s claws, stones and sand and most unique, the internal horn bone of a cow, weathered and worn by the elements. A treasure found by my mother years ago and brought to its final home in this wonderful basket sculpture.
