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I've always loved horses, but my family couldn't
afford one until I was 12. Until then I had to be content to ride a stick
horse, turn the family dog into a horse, or get an occasional ride on an
uncle's gentle old mare. I had several horses in my youth and rode everywhere
and did just about everything imaginable (and unimaginable!) with them --
including swimming in the breakers in the ocean. These experiences taught me
a great deal about horses and I've always referred to this period as my
"Equine School of Hard Knocks." I learned to understand horse body language
and was good enough at it that I only walked home twice when my horse
out-foxed me. This intimate knowledge of equine behavior has been invaluable
in giving life and feeling to my equine sculptures.
In 1979 my husband and I started Windswept Farm,
a 38-stall boarding, training and breeding facility. My stallion was *Chutor+,
a pure-Polish import, three time U.S. and Canadian Top Ten at halter, champion
halter of three Regional Arabian shows, park and harness champion, sire of a
Canadian National Champion and multiple regional and Scottsdale winners.
Several of *Chutor+'s offspring raced in southern California and he has an
amazing record of 100% winners for starters. Today *Chutor+ is gone and we
have cut down our previous herd of 30 to 12, most of which are *Chutor+ get
and grand-get. I burned out on showing many years ago and today enjoy trail
riding on a good horse. See photos of my current and past horses:
Windswept Farm Horses
Note from the webmaster:
I placed some special photos of Nancy on her own page:
Nancy
I've had my hands on a good many horses over the
years. I've gotten to the point where I can read their minds as well as their
bodies. My horses provide ideas and inspiration for my art work. My education
in equine behavior is continuous.
I've drawn and painted horses, animals, wildlife,
cartoons, landscapes and still life for as long as I can remember. I sold a
few paintings, but usually give them to relatives. On many occasions, years
ago, I sculpted in soap, plaster, wood or clay, but none of these mediums were
satisfactory. Discouraged, I threw my early efforts away. One sculpture of a
cutting horse I did in plaster in 1962 was rescued from the garbage can by an
aunt. She recently presented it to me and I'm happy to have it now. Even
though I hadn't found my medium, I knew I liked sculpting more than painting.
With marriage to
Leo Brown in 1958, four children,
a full-time job and my horses, art took a back-seat in my life. I always felt
art was something I'd use as an indoor hobby when I got too old to mess around
with horses. I didn't really appreciate my talent. My ability to sculpt or
draw was something that was just there; it didn't seem to me to be so special
or so unusual. I took my talent lightly and was foolish to postpone doing
something with it. In 1986, with Windswept Farm established, our four
children grown, and the 9-5 job distant history, I finally visited an art
foundry. I bought a piece of artist's wax, and as soon as I began working
with it I knew I'd found my medium. I started "Horizon's Call" and took a
community college course in the foundry process and lost wax casting. A whole
new world opened up for me. I regret the loss of so many years, but there are
a good many left. I have expanded my range of subjects to include western,
the human figure and various animals and wildlife.
My work has been enthusiastically encouraged and
accepted by my friends and fellow horsemen. I've sold many sculptures to
private parties and several for memorial horse show trophies. "Triumphant,"
the three-horse-head wall plaque that was used for 10 years as the trophy for
the Region IV Arabian Championship show was so hugely successful that entries
to the show rose dramatically and the number of trophies awarded grew from 60
to 120 annually. I've been commissioned to create sculptures of specific
horses, one of which is now on display at the headquarters for the Pinto Horse
Association in Fort Worth, TX. My polo player "Checked" was selected in a
juried art show and exhibited at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, KY
in 1996. I've donated several sculptures to an art auction for muscular
dystrophy, where my bull / rider "Send in the Clowns" was the highest selling
art of the auction. Two magazines have done articles on me and my work,
Arabian Horse Country and The Pinto Horse.
I wish I'd started this bronze work 20 years
earlier. I'm continually amazed that I can have so much FUN doing something
that other people appreciate enough to have in their home or garden. I still
don't consider myself an 'artist.' When people use that word to describe me,
I feel I should look around behind me to see who it is they're talking about!
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