By Shya Beth
Kenna Al Sayed not only has familial ties across the world; her honed skill as an artist has taken her to high levels of artistic acclaim internationally as well. From national horse events to having her work hanging in five-star hotels in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and in offices in the financial district in Abu Dhabi, Kenna’s lifelong journey as an equine artist has given her immense opportunities in the most surprising ways.
“I received an email inquiry from a gentleman explaining he had found my artwork hanging in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Dubai and wrote down my signature,” Kenna said. “He then tracked me down online and contacted me to commission multiple artworks for his offices, which ended up being for the offices of Swiss private bank Lombard Odier in the financial district of Abu Dhabi. Seeing my artwork in the background of an interview they had with Bloomberg on international investing is still one of the most surreal and wonderful moments of my life!”
Kenna, who has family in the United States and in Abu Dhabi, is grateful for the opportunities that have come her way—exhibiting in international trade shows throughout the Middle East in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar, as well as museum shows, art auctions, juried art shows, multiple hotel collections and being represented by the Equis Art Gallery in Red Hook, New York, and the American Saddlebred Museum’s Gift Shop located at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. “I constantly have to pause and remind myself how fortunate I am to have met so many people along the way of my art journey,” she said. “Being an artist can be a very isolated existence, and meeting people that appreciate my art is so humbling and delightful.”
Drawing Her Own Path
Kenna’s mother rode horses when she was younger and insisted all of her children have a basic level of knowledge when it comes to riding. “I just never gave it up,” Kenna said. “I fell in love with horses first and started drawing all the horses I wished I could own.
“When I was 8 years old, my parents signed me up for riding lessons and it was the start of my absolute passion of knowing all things horses. Growing up between Abu Dhabi, where my father is from, and Indiana, where my mother is from, I traveled quite a bit as a child and visited many museums and horses around the world that have influenced me both as a person and as an artist.”
As a teenager, Kenna was fortunate to live close to Kaufman Stables in Indiana, and trained with renowned trainer Alfred ‘Al’ Kaufman for over 20 years. After Kenna’s first horse, Tessa, passed away in 1998, she purchased her second horse, Jambalaya, a grandson of Zippo Pine Bar, who had been one of Al’s personal horses. Riding in stock seat in academy-level shows, Kenna reined in on competing in larger shows to pursue college at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, from which she graduated in 2007, and continued to ride and train weekly with Al until his passing in 2012.
“Jambalaya, whose bright sorrel coat was the inspiration for my art studio’s name, passed away several years later, and I took a break from riding,” Kenna said. “I plan to get back in the saddle myself one day! Until then, my focus resides in exploring the horse through art.
Understanding the Equine Embodiment
In the beginning of Kenna’s career as an artist, realistically depicting horses was of the utmost importance. Being able to intimately understand the anatomy of the horse in order to accurately draw the subject by memory, without using a reference photo, showcases an artist’s time-honed skill and dedication to their craft.
“From being confident in my ability to accurately depict horses, I started playing around with only wanting to create what was needed to express their movement, the ethos of the horse,” Kenna said. “I started using ink as a means to express the movement of horses; being able to make sweeping lines that mimicked a horse’s stride became a signature feature in my artwork. I try to not only capture their movement but also their potential movement, with lines that will extend out in ways that predict the possibility of where they may go.”
Finding new ways to portray horses will be something that both curses and drives Kenna for the rest of her life. Being an artist, it can become easy to get stuck in a creative rut, and finding new ways that both challenge and encourage growth is a must. When Kenna started exploring her expressive ink/mixed media sketches, she had to stop herself from adding in too much detail to the horse, as these revealing lines and wisps of imagery are what make her ink sketches full of passion and possibility, instead of the more detailed, static imagery that realism is known for.
Kenna is also expanding into a new art form—customizing leather goods, including purses, which she discovered at a show a couple of years ago. She was intrigued watching artists she knows expand into the form, so she decided to try her hand at it. “My collectors really responded to this collection of functional art, and the demand I had for them surpassed my ability to keep up—so I took a very large gamble and found a boutique company to create a limited-edition purse that has my artwork printed directly on the leather,” Kenna said.
The purse is being sold via Kenna’s father’s luxury shoe stores overseas as well as marketed by Kenna on her own Instagram page—as always, with horses as her inspiration. “I hope that this project takes off and that I’m able to create more purses or objects that my artwork is on,” Kenna concluded. “I have so many ideas featuring the horse that I would love to create.”
For more information, visit sorrelstudios.com and on Instagram @sorrelstudios
