Maggie Bennett
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Meet the Artist - Maggie Bennett
Sculptor of:
Micro minis
EquinArt's three Tennessee Waking Horses
Claude - New Traditional size model
I’ve been sculpting for most of my life, although it’s only been in the past three
or four years that I’ve really worked to improve my sculpting. I’m pretty much
all self-taught—I started sculpting because I couldn’t afford to buy Breyers, and
there really wasn’t anyone around to teach me. I don’t think high school art
classes count—they certainly did not focus on realistic miniature horse
sculptures!
I never had a real horse as a child. Maybe if I had, I would not have been so
obsessed with the model ones! I’ve loved horses since I read Misty of
Chincoteague at about 8 years old and found the Breyer Misty model at the same
time—I had to have one, and saved for months to afford this little $14 model. I
started sculpting in non-hardening modeling clays around that time, working in a
scale somewhat smaller than Stablemates. These were perfect for me, because, as
a kid, what I needed was horses that could be posed! Non-hardening clay had its
disadvantages though; I remember coming back to the hot car one day to find my
beloved horses turned into gooey puddles. I started working in micro mini scale
around 1997 or so, and have loved it ever since.
When I start a sculpture, I usually have a feel in mind for it. It may be as general
as “I want a lot of mane flying around” or as specific as “I want to capture the
sudden movement that this horse makes when we is released from his stall”. I like
working from photographs, at least as references for proportions. The micro mini
Andalusian, for example, was originally sculpted following a photo fairly closely.
I prefer different scales for different reasons. Traditional are good because it’s a
lot harder to misplace a 12” horse than a 1 ½” one! (did I mention I am
extraordinarily untidy most of the time?) My sculptures have NAN qualified
many times. To my knowledge, none have been shown at NAN. I have shown
some sculptures in venues outside the model horse world, but this has been
extremely limited as the “fine art” world doesn’t seem to have much use for
realistic mini horses.
Right now, I work with a group of six to eight lesson horses. I’ve only been in
riding lessons for a little over a year, but I’m really enjoying it. Living in the
suburbs meant that there were rarely horses anywhere in the area, and I was
delighted to discover that the University of Maryland has a riding stable on
campus, only a few minutes’ walk from my dorm! There are a variety of breeds,
from Thoroughbreds to a paint, including several quarter horses and a couple of
warmbloods—a nice variety of reference material for sculpting from!
I strive for expression and realism in my sculptures. Especially in larger
sculptures like Claude, I really want to capture and emotion, a feeling, a moment
of time. I find it far more difficult to do this in smaller scales, as there really is
only so much detail possible in a micro mini before it would simply be invisible. I
do try to keep things realistic at the same time, as seeing my sculptures that are
not quite “correct” really grates on my nerves. This leads to my habit of simply
chopping off bits of a horse I don’t like and resculpting them. Again, Claude is a
perfect example of this—the poor horse has gone through at least two heads,
three tails, and an all-new neck, shoulders…When I am not happy with
something, I keep working on it!
I am currently attending the University of Maryland, where I am majoring in
materials engineering with a focus on art preservation and conservation. This
means that I spend a lot of time in class (although not as much as I should) and
on homework (definitely not as much time as I should spend on it!). I like
animals, and I have a dog (who of course does not live on campus with me), a
couple of gerbils (again, not here on campus), and a whole bunch of fish (which
are allowed on campus!). I love reading, especially authors like Terry Pratchett
and Clive Cussler, among others. The model horses seem to take up most of my
free time, though!
Sculptor of:
Micro minis
EquinArt's three Tennessee Waking Horses
Claude - New Traditional size model
I’ve been sculpting for most of my life, although it’s only been in the past three
or four years that I’ve really worked to improve my sculpting. I’m pretty much
all self-taught—I started sculpting because I couldn’t afford to buy Breyers, and
there really wasn’t anyone around to teach me. I don’t think high school art
classes count—they certainly did not focus on realistic miniature horse
sculptures!
I never had a real horse as a child. Maybe if I had, I would not have been so
obsessed with the model ones! I’ve loved horses since I read Misty of
Chincoteague at about 8 years old and found the Breyer Misty model at the same
time—I had to have one, and saved for months to afford this little $14 model. I
started sculpting in non-hardening modeling clays around that time, working in a
scale somewhat smaller than Stablemates. These were perfect for me, because, as
a kid, what I needed was horses that could be posed! Non-hardening clay had its
disadvantages though; I remember coming back to the hot car one day to find my
beloved horses turned into gooey puddles. I started working in micro mini scale
around 1997 or so, and have loved it ever since.
When I start a sculpture, I usually have a feel in mind for it. It may be as general
as “I want a lot of mane flying around” or as specific as “I want to capture the
sudden movement that this horse makes when we is released from his stall”. I like
working from photographs, at least as references for proportions. The micro mini
Andalusian, for example, was originally sculpted following a photo fairly closely.
I prefer different scales for different reasons. Traditional are good because it’s a
lot harder to misplace a 12” horse than a 1 ½” one! (did I mention I am
extraordinarily untidy most of the time?) My sculptures have NAN qualified
many times. To my knowledge, none have been shown at NAN. I have shown
some sculptures in venues outside the model horse world, but this has been
extremely limited as the “fine art” world doesn’t seem to have much use for
realistic mini horses.
Right now, I work with a group of six to eight lesson horses. I’ve only been in
riding lessons for a little over a year, but I’m really enjoying it. Living in the
suburbs meant that there were rarely horses anywhere in the area, and I was
delighted to discover that the University of Maryland has a riding stable on
campus, only a few minutes’ walk from my dorm! There are a variety of breeds,
from Thoroughbreds to a paint, including several quarter horses and a couple of
warmbloods—a nice variety of reference material for sculpting from!
I strive for expression and realism in my sculptures. Especially in larger
sculptures like Claude, I really want to capture and emotion, a feeling, a moment
of time. I find it far more difficult to do this in smaller scales, as there really is
only so much detail possible in a micro mini before it would simply be invisible. I
do try to keep things realistic at the same time, as seeing my sculptures that are
not quite “correct” really grates on my nerves. This leads to my habit of simply
chopping off bits of a horse I don’t like and resculpting them. Again, Claude is a
perfect example of this—the poor horse has gone through at least two heads,
three tails, and an all-new neck, shoulders…When I am not happy with
something, I keep working on it!
I am currently attending the University of Maryland, where I am majoring in
materials engineering with a focus on art preservation and conservation. This
means that I spend a lot of time in class (although not as much as I should) and
on homework (definitely not as much time as I should spend on it!). I like
animals, and I have a dog (who of course does not live on campus with me), a
couple of gerbils (again, not here on campus), and a whole bunch of fish (which
are allowed on campus!). I love reading, especially authors like Terry Pratchett
and Clive Cussler, among others. The model horses seem to take up most of my
free time, though!
Maggie's work is sold exclusively through EquinArt Creations.
Click on the link below to view and purchase her work online.
Claude - Traditional size rearing gelding (New!)
Three Stablemate sized Tennessee Walking Horses
Micro mini series
Click on the link below to view and purchase her work online.
Claude - Traditional size rearing gelding (New!)
Three Stablemate sized Tennessee Walking Horses
Micro mini series
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