Joyce Wassick, of Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, commissioned the sculpture of her husband with his favorite Arabian Stallion, Sharem, in 2008. Sculptor Jamie Lester put the finishing touches on the bronze sculpture of horse and trainer in February of 2009. These images show the work from the early stages of planning to the completed piece.
- First, a drawing was created by Jamie in order to come to a better visual understanding of the subject matter. It is important for the artist and client to think about the meaning created by relationships between multiple subjects. In the initial stages, we settled on a running training exercise that placed Dan alongside Sharem.
- The armature is created with iron pipe and aluminum wire, to create a foundation for the clay sculpture.
- Plastelina clay is modelled onto the armature, creating musculature and approximating the form, using multiple photo sources as a guide.
The clay form is refined, using brushes and cloths, wooden tools, and fingers.
- After much revision the clay modelling is brought to a level of detail that both artist and client feel represents the subjects to the highest possible degree. Molds are then made of the finished clay, and taken to the foundry.
- The foundry uses the "lost wax" process to cast the molten bronze in the form of the artist's molds. The bronze is welded, chased, and patinaed to the artist's specs. Elements too small to be cast, such as the training crop, and the lead, are brazed on.
- Detail of the finished bronze, Dan with the training crop, which was added after casting.
- The patina was varied to emulate the natural color of Sharem.
