Out of the gate and into history ...
Kitty Cantrell - Award Winning Sculptor and Caroline Boydston - Award Winning Artist
Combine their talent to bring you this exciting collaboration
THE BEGINNING...
Q: How did you meet and how did the two of you begin working together?
KITTY: Sheryl Leisure came to hang out and sculpt at my place one day and brought her pal Caroline along. We laughed and giggled all day and Caroline kept putting her 2 cents in on a horse I was working on. She did a great job finding the "boo boo's." We just found that we work well together and have fun. I am a better sculptor now that I have my own "critic" and I think Caroline is better too. She's now my "Bud!"
CAROLINE: I had seen Kitty's work before and really admired her sculpting talent. The first horse I remember completely falling in love with was a trotting Thoroughbred filly named "Romance." I thought "WOW"! this is it, this is what they really look like. I had been painting horse sculptures for a few years by then and when I saw Kitty at a local horse show I introduced myself. I bought two Romances, feeling very lucky. Later, a great friend Sheryl Leisure invited me to Kitty's. I got a chance to see her studio and what a treat...it's like Disneyland for artists! Kitty was working on a new horse and at one point she turned around and asked if the hindquarters looked O.K. I made a suggestion, Kitty agreed, and things just took off from there!
Q: How exactly do you work together on a sculpture, who does what?
KITTY: We discuss what we think our customers would like to see and then start forming a plan. Nocturno came about because his owner was talking with Caroline via email and she thought the horse was a wonderful representative of his breed (Hanoverian). She then helped me understand that I wanted, needed and was driven to sculpt him! I worked like an inspired looney and Caroline said "hmmmm...Don't you think you should change that? Or, hey! cool! you've almost got it now and then, oh gleeful! oh goody! you've got it!" After awhile I get it and the whole process is magical and fun. Caroline gets a made-to-order horse and I get to sculpt it. It doesn't get any better!
CAROLINE: I consider my job to be the easy part; I just grunt and point while Kitty does the magic! Actually, we tend to have the same vision. Once we start on something we have a combined energy that's hard to explain. It just works! Kitty is a phenomenally talented artist having done many beautiful sculptures all the way from wildlife to whimsical. She has had her own horses in the past and has a great love and passion for them. I feel very honored that she would trust my judgment on conformation and form. This stems from my more formal background of competitive riding and growing up with a family that raised and trained Thoroughbreds and Hanovarians.
