October Newsletter - Delaware Artists Guild

October 2012
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Hello DAG friends,
It was fantastic seeing so many familiar as well as new faces at the September meeting. I hope
everyone enjoyed the presentation. I look forward to having another great turnout at the October
meeting which will occur at the Delaware library on the 22nd at 7:30. Artist Lynda Sappington will
be joining us and she will explain the process she goes through to make her award-winning bronze
equine sculptures. They are spectacular creations so you won’t want to miss her presentation.
I look forward to seeing you all soon.
D E L AWA R E
A R T I S T
G U I L D
Lori Palmer
Lynda Sappington, Sculptor
Self-taught sculptor Lynda Sappington’s college degree is in music. She’d taken some art classes, but had never met
a teacher who was a real sculptor herself until she was in her early forties. Lynda has a 3-D mind. Her drawings were
never exactly in proportion because she couldn’t see them as flat surfaces – not until she’d been
a sculptor for over ten years and had sculpted enough jewelry and reliefs to finally be able to
see how to compress three dimensions into two.
Lynda’s first sculptures as an adult were cartoony baby dragons, because she didn’t believe she
could do a realistic enough horse to make her happy. Ambitious from the start, Lynda submitted
them to the Danbury Mint when she heard they were looking for sculptors. If the lady in
charge of the project hadn’t gone on maternity leave and never come back, Lynda might still be
making baby dragons, but she’s happy she was able to move on to horses.
Lynda made her first realistic horse sculpture on a dare she made to herself. She saw a flyer
with what was supposed to be a “Friesian” (the breed shown in the photo). When Lynda saw
the flyer for this piece, the words “I can do better than that” just fell out of her mouth. The
resulting piece got Lynda into galleries in Del Mar, CA, and several in Ohio.
Lynda with her monumental bronze, “Nanning 374: Spirit of the Friesian”.
From there, Lynda’s career blossomed. She has shown her work in person from Massachusetts
to California, Florida, and Canada. She’s done commissions and trophies for individuals, horse
show committees, and race tracks from all over the US and Canada. Her sculptures are collected world-wide. Two of her bronzes are perpetual trophies in
an Olympic qualifying show in Palm Beach, Florida.
In 2011, Lynda was commissioned to create a life-size bronze of a 17 hand stallion. The sculpture was done as a maquette (table-top size) first, and then
digitally enlarged. The bronze (shown above) was installed in Wisconsin in April 2012 and dedicated in June 2012. Lynda sculpted him from photos only,
just as she did for a portrait of him pulling a 17th century carriage two years prior. She only saw the horse once, when the carriage sculpture was given as a
World Championship trophy at the Friesian Extravaganza. The finished life-size bronze is 8’ tall by 9’4” long and weighs 2000 lbs. The head of the Friesian
association in The Netherlands told Lynda’s customer that this piece is “historic” and “truly shows the spirit, fire, and passion of the Friesian horse.” Lynda’s
life-size of Nanning 374 is only the second life-size bronze of a Friesian in the world. The other is in The Netherlands and is in a standing pose, while Lynda’s
bronze is playing.
Part of the joy of sculpting is that there’s always something to learn, some new material, or technique to try. Lynda keeps track of
things she learns by making web pages about them. These online private (and sometimes available to the public) files evolved into
a book, “Sculpting 101: A Primer for the Self-taught Artist” which has now been revised and is in its second printing. It’s available
on Amazon, along with her two fantasy novels, “Star Sons: Dawn of the Two” and “Star Sons Book 2: The Gathering Alliance.”
Lynda and her husband, John, live on a 32 acre farm with two horses, two house cats, and a barn cat. Lynda shows her half-Andalusian gelding, Ricos, in
dressage. Jack, her retired Quarter Horse, keeps Ricos company. Lynda plans to keep riding, sculpting, and writing as long as possible.
To those who have paid their membership dues as of 10/11/2012,
thanks for your prompt payment of membership dues!
My bank statement reflects 24 members paid ($480.00 deposited).
If you have not yet paid your membership, please do so as soon as
possible so that we will have a good sense of the funds we have to
work with as we continue the year.
The membership dues are $20 and can be mailed to:
DAG
PO Box 234
Delaware, OH 43015 or you could bring your dues to the next meeting.
We are happy to have four new members so far this year! Please
welcome them when you see them at the meetings and please
bring friends along that you know if you think they would enjoy our
fellowship!
Michael D Palmer
Treasurer/Membership
Please feel free to send articles, photos, reviews of
books or shows, reports of display opportunities to
me at [email protected]. Submitted 10/19/2012 • • • • • Kris Hyland Kolb, editor