Top Western Artist Don Bell may be known for his pencil drawings, but he is on his way to making a name for himself as an emerging sculptor. Bell’s only formal schooling was in sculpting, and this medium was where he first started his art career before he gravitated toward using a graphite pencil on a wide range of surfaces including fiberglass, canvas, and clay board. Bell is looking forward to designing more three dimensional artwork that he plans to sell as limited edition pieces.
Bell who lives in Weatherford, Texas was approached by Cam Foreman, who is the executive Vice President of the Ohio Quarter Horse Association to design the new Congress trophy.
“We chose Don Bell to sculpt a new trophy for the Congress as he is an outstanding young artist that has roots in the American Quarter Horse industry,” Foreman said. “He has exhibited and won many times at the Congress, and we just felt he was a natural to sculpt a trophy for us.”
Foreman, whose many responsibilities include running the All American Quarter Horse Congress, praised Bell’s talent. “The trophy that Don has sculpted for us is the best that I have ever seen. I think he has really captured what we would all want in a horse that we wanted to show today.”
The new bronze trophy will debut at 45th annual All American Quarter Horse Congress, held October 7-30, 2011 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, Ohio. The trophy will be similar in size and weight to the C.R. Morrison bronze–standing about seven inches tall. The piece was approved last month by the Ohio Quarter Horse Association Board of Directors.
“This horse I’m doing will represent the kind of horse we want to see as a Grand Champion Stallion,” Bell said. “Not overly done, just a well balanced, and structurally correct horse. It will not deviate much from the prior trophy–as it will have the same look, base and pedestal. The horse will just look more refined and representative of an ideally conformed horse that should win at the Congress.”
Bell sculpted the horse using oil based sulphur free clay that never dries out. The casts are made using a synthetic mold; which is taken from the original bronze copy of the sculpture. So that the sculpture is as close to the original as possible.
The Cold-Cast process used to create the prior C.R. Morrison trophies will also be used to produce over 400 trophies for this year’s Congress. Cold-Cast Bronze or Bonded Bronze as it is sometimes called, is actually made of a polyester, epoxy or another resin. Bronze powder is used to achieve the bronze appearance and weight. Marble dust can also be added to the resin to achieve a marble look, hence bonded stone.
“It is refreshing to be able to work in a different medium than I have in recent years,” Bell told GoHorseShow.com. “It is slow work and very time consuming, but I am honored to have this opportunity and look forward to my design being used for years to come.”
Stay tuned for an upcoming article that will reveal the completed bronze trophy in the next few months.
If you would like to know more about Don Bell’s work or interested in him doing a private commissioned piece, please contact him through his website at www.donbellgalleries.com.
