Thursday, August 25, 2011

Who Created Me?

I've had this little model for years and years, and I have no idea who sculpted and painted it. I bought her at the first model horse show I ever went to, which was a Midwest Congress in Illinois. I think I was 12 or 13 years old, so that would make it 1979-80? I had to beg my mom to take me to this show, which was at a Holiday Inn in a distant Chicago suburb. I remember being overwhelmed by the amount of models there, it was jam packed. Kathleen Maestas was there, and I think Julie Froelich, but now I'm not sure. I remember being awed by the smooth hair job on the works that I thought were Froelich's, but now when I see vintage pics of Julie's work, it looks like she worked exclusively in mohair. The ones I saw used the smooth hair like Faye Cohen, so I'm not sure if it was Faye or someone else now.

At any rate, there was a woman at the show who had a whole slew of these little ceramic (?) horses, all sculpted and painted by herself. I don't remember her name, but the last picture here shows her signature mark. Does anyone know who it could be? I never saw any of these pieces again in the hobby, and always wondered who she was and what happened to her.
As I was wandering the aisles at the show, my mom helpfully offered to keep this gal in her purse for "safekeeping," and when I pulled her out of the purse later, her leg was broken off. So much for purse safety! I've lost the leg over the years but have kept her around in the hopes that I can identify her someday.

4 comments:

Danielle Feldman said...

I can't help you out with identifying your model, but I wanted to chime in about Midwest Congress. It was my first show, too. I was fortunate enough to show a few years there while Marney was hosting it. What a great trip down memory lane.

Carol said...

That was back when roans were painted with a can of white spray paint lol!

Whitestones said...

Looks like a Hampshire Hill to me :-)

http://www.modelhorsegallery.info/V/VonRedlich/MVRhome.html

Carol said...

Yes, I did find out it was a Hampshire Hill :-)