About the Artist
Lindsey's love for horses was apparent as early as age two. Her parents supported her by getting a pony as soon as she could hold herself in the saddle. In many ways her childhood was defined by the company of all the wonderful equine spirits that came into her life. Art was also an early childhood passion, and Lindsey spent a lot of time painting or drawing horses. As time went on, her two interests for horses and art became more intertwined. Creating horses in different media was a way to express Lindsey's pure love for the horse, and at Bennington College, she focused specifically in sculpture to improve her craft. After college, Lindsey stayed in Vermont, where by luck the rivers and the driftwood were abundant. While working on a horse farm, the blend of art and horses took shape in the first driftwood forms. After many years of enthusiastic trial and re-building, Lindsey developed a system to combine strength and freedom in her driftwood sculptures.
The Artistic Process
All of my horse sculptures start with a search for driftwood. Driftwood is not often in the same place twice, as the riverbanks change depending on the season and the amount of water flowing through. Most of the wood I use is found by chance. Even a day where I find nothing is still a day spent down by the water, so it is never a day wasted. Once I have enough wood to work with, I dream up a horse I would like to see in reality. Sometimes, I use a photo as my model to see how closely I can transfer a picture into a sculpture. Once I have a sketch or a photo, I weld an armature out of steel and use this frame to provide strength to the sculpture. The steel provides the initial outline to follow, and then I make wooden hooves for the horses that go onto the armature first. The rest of the process is the puzzle of making all the driftwood flow together to create the final horse. As I build, I attached the wood with screws, and layering makes it stronger. When the horse is finished, I fill all the screw holes with wood filler. Finally, the wood gets treated with a wood preserve to keep it weatherproofed. Then, it's on to the next project!
