76 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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Artist Profile
Mary Sand
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Type of artist: Sculptor and painter - Website:
Born to European immigrants, Mary Sand spent much of her childhood
in Darmstadt, Germany where she learned to ride and found artistic
inspiration in their life-size equestrian statues. Upon returning to the
states, Mary continued her passion for riding, but swapped her passion for
art for a career in satellite communications – only to eventually return to
art. Today, she is a full-time sculptor and has her own private barn. Among
a long list of accomplishments is her creation of the Hickstead statue at
Spruce Meadows. Mary attributes much of her success to her good friend
Ursula von der Leyen. Ursula has greatly impacted Mary’s riding and Mary
says that without her encouragement, she would have never have begun
to create the sculptures she is known for today.
Mary and her horse, Ami, at her home.
Photo by Thomas Sand
Mary’s studio – a work of art itself!
Photo by Mary Sand
Mary’s statue honoring Hickstead (1996 – 2011). This photo was taken at
Spruce Meadows Master’s Tournament, following his tribute.
Photo by Ashley Rohmer
What is the greatest challenge about creating sculptures?
Usually it’s the timeline – especially for commissioned work. The
customer usually wants the sculpture for a specific event. Each new
sculpture is so different and requires time to put together reference
material, take measurements, study the reference photographs
and create the model in clay. Whenever possible, I work with the
horse in front of me when the sculpture is nearly completed and
this makes a big difference in refining the characteristics of the
horse.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
To go for it! Shortly after picking up that first bag of water-based
clay, a friend of mine was taking a pottery class at the Palo Alto
Cultural Center and encouraged me to take the class. The instructor,
Norma Lyon, had experience with creating bronze sculpture, so I
called and asked if I could attend the class, but instead of working
on pottery, I would bring a horse head that I was working on and
pick her brain while the others in class were working on pottery.
Norma introduced me to plasteline, an oil based clay, talked to me
about the bronze casting process and started me on my way.
What are you currently working on?
It’s an exciting time. I’m now working on three commissions.
Sabrina Hellman, owner of Woodstock, commissioned me to
create a sculpture of “Woody” jumping over a fence with trainer
Hope Glynn on board, to serve as the Performance Hunters trophy
for the USEF with two more editions being cast for her family. The
second commission is for Victoria Klein of Portola Valley, California.
Her horse Griffin is an eventer and is extremely athletic, muscular
and expressive. He’s also very affectionate, but we decided on
a sculpture concept to reflect his athleticism, with him launching
off of his hind legs. From Canada, Marisia Campbell’s husband
commissioned me, as a gift for Marisia, to create a sculpture of her
dressage horse Welte. From the beginning, Marisia didn’t want him
performing a dressage movement, instead she wanted to capture
his relaxed, calm nature so he is standing in a relaxed manner, with
his right hind resting. This will create a beautiful and soft image of
her horse in bronze.
