This
was a wonderful commission, partly because horses have always been
my favorite animals and in part because the folks I worked with in Tucson
were so terrific! The biggest challenge for me was to sculpt the
life-size clay model within the allotted six-week time frame...fast work!. It
took some very long days but we made our delivery right on schedule. In
addition to the great folks at the http://www.Tucson-PimaArtsCouncil.org
I have to thank my own beloved horse Ande Volado for being such
a great model and my good friends Kathryn and Carolee for their help in
slapping on that first layer of clay and their insightful critiques on
pony confirmation.
This project is similar to those undertaken by many
cities throughout the world, including Santa Fe NM with their Trail of
Painted Ponies, Chicago with it's Cows and so many others. Each pony
had a sponsoring business or individual and a recipient non-profit
organization. The sponsor selected a painter from a pool of 50
pre-juried designs. In total, 35 ponies were sponsored and
completed. They were exhibited for approximately one year at various
venues in and around Tucson, then auctioned off. Proceeds from the
auction went in the most part to the non-profit organization with a small
commission to the painter. This was a project that was lots of fun
and resulted in much good being done in the community.
I was delighted to attend some of the Pony events in
Tucson and really got choked up when I saw the first ten unveiled and the
Family Art Festival. I was so proud of my beautiful babies!
For more details about the project go to www.poniesdelpueblo.org.
Dani Harman Zack, Sculptor
