| While growing up on a farm in
Montana Jewett knew horses well and always felt a
strong interest in art; but after high school a
different love took center stage. "I always wanted
to be an artist," she says, "but I was sidetracked
by flying." She spent fourteen years flying
seaplanes as air-taxis around Alaska and still keeps
a plane at her local airport; in whatever spare time
she has, she's rebuilding another. |
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| During all her time flying
Jewett never got art out of her system and for the
past ten years has pursued it full time as a career.
A welding class led her down the path that would
capture her imagination and steel became her medium.
Jewett learned the processes of gas- and wire-feed
welding and began fashioning horses, ultimately
turning to found objects to represent her true
artistic statement. |
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| Jewett has now become a renowned fabrication artist
working broken tools, rusted car parts, farm
equipment and myriad odds and ends together to
create her indisputably life-like horse sculptures.
One has only to admire the precision with which she
captures the nuance of a delicate fetlock or
pastern, and the strength captured in every flank
and withers, to know this is an artist of truly
significant skill. |
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"Stormy Bay's" rusty brown patina is ¼" steel plates
with a conglomeration of railroad spikes, wrought
iron fleur delis and horseshoes added. He was
conceived from the patterns of curled parts that
mimic waves of the ocean in a storm and represents
Jewett's love of bay horses. "Drifter" represents
Jewett's travels throughout the country, always on
the hunt for unique materials to incorporate into
her horses. On a spiritual level, he portrays the
search for our life's purpose and exemplifies the
concept that the total is more than the sum of its
parts. |
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| Typically, Jewett draws her ideas on the floor first
then begins the three-dimensional work, taking
several months to complete each sculpture. Every one
is unique, both in materials and in concept;
painstaking work with forge, torch and welding rod
bring a unique character to each horse. Jewett says,
"Sometimes I'll stop work and go out to the stable
and pasture to look at the muscles and proportions."
It is this precision of effort that defines Dixie
Jewett's incomparable work. |
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"Stormy Bay"
Horse Sculpture
Steel plate and found objects
11' h x 10' 10" l x 2' w
Weight approx. 4,000 lbs
Click on an image to see
a larger view. |
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"Midnight with Silvery Moons"
Horse Sculpture
Found Objects, Metal
and Chrome
11' h x 13' l x 3' w
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