Forces oF Nature ‘if i can whittle a bear claw, i can carve a horse’s head!’ i started carving Arabian horses’ heads to hang on our stall fronts at shows, and i carved several to take to a horse sale in Des moines. i made my first sale that day—$50. The business grew like crazy, with commissions to carve many famous horses. “KeG Arabians owner Ken Guilbeaux commissioned me to carve 36-inch high, black walnut busts of *marsianin and Tornado, and a smaller one of *marsianin’s beautiful young daughter, exotika. *marsianin was the 1981 U.s. national champion stallion that Guilbeaux owned with Howard Kale Jr., who had imported him from russia. i happened to find a huge black walnut stump, which i cleaned up and used as the base for all three sculptures. i carved a full body sculpture of *napitok for Dr. Dee Whittlesey, and for the Tom Gray family, of Act Three Arabians, i carved a sculpture of their *bask daughter, Anitaa. she was the 1981 U.s. national reserve champion and 1982 canadian national champion, and
she earned U.s. national Top Tens in both halter and english pleasure in 1984. “For the mcLaughlins, of bru-bet Arabians, i sculpted four stallions, one of whom was GG Jabask. For another breeder i carved a full body portrait of a lovely filly that had died of sciDs. The morris Animal Foundation used the sculpture in their fundraising efforts to promote the search for a diagnostic test for the inherited immunodeficiency disorder.” she attempts to explain her fascination for the discipline she has embraced. “sculpting involves a lot more physicality than most other artists’ media,” she offers. “i love the physical aspects of my work.” Keep in mind that Foss graduated from high school in 1948. That was 63 years ago, making her a phenomenon, a force of nature. How many other luminously creative people continue to excel in their chosen fields decade after decade, for more than half a century, without missing a beat? Any individual who consistently births superb examples of his or her unique gifts, whatever they may be, demands our respect. but when an unusually talented and committed craftsman continues to produce, decade after decade, we are dumbfounded, as the years merge into a lifetime and those few gifted souls experience no lessening in the quality of what they produce, nor in the fire blazing in their hearts. such hard work would deter many a would-be artist/sculptor,
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