Driftwood Horse Sculptures by Heather Jansch

By Queuebot in Animals & Pets, Art, Pictures on May 13, 2009 at 1:15 pm

Heather Jansch creates absolutely amazing (and surprisingly lifelike) sculptures of horses using driftwood.

Equally amazing is the story of how she found her own style in the art world:

I went on to the now famous Goldsmiths College in London where sadly, at the time, figurative work was unfashionable. There was a life room, and models too, but no tutors ventured near. They liked and encouraged (typically) 6ft square green canvases with triangles and circles in bold clashing colours and sculptures using planks and blocks of polystyrene.

At the end of the first year I was asked to leave the course. I was told that I did not have the stuff that painters were made from and, if lucky, I might scrape a place somewhere to do graphics. My confidence was shattered. I was not interested in graphics. I liked the country, painting and constructing things from what lay around.

But that was then, and I went on to achieve my dream by virtue of fate, the generosity of others, luck and determination. I went my own way, not always wisely and not always to accolade from the establishment.

Link – via quazen

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sagest.


Email This Post
Tweet This Post 
Share This Post on Facebook

Tags: , , , , , ,


Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:


  1. lannaxe96
    May 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    These are bit eery and odd. Where do I get one?

  2. Alex
    May 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Yeah, it’s worth a re-post, I think.

  3. Gauldar
    May 13th, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Was some of this stuff posted on Web Urbanist too? I can never be sure since my memory just mixes everthing into one big vat.

  4. ted
    May 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    How are the horses using the driftwood?

  5. kkelley
    May 13th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    These sculptures look like direct copies of Deborah Butterfield’s wood and cast bronze horse sculptures, which she has been doing since the early 1980s. Lame.

  6. DaveL
    May 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    My sense of humor would require me to secretly put a 12 pack of trojans inside this.

  7. Skipweasel
    May 13th, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    There’s one at the entrance to The Eden Project – it’s quite amazing, but sadly unsuited to having kids climb all over it, which is, of course, exactly what they wanted to do. We didn’t let them – but in a long queue a climbing frame might have been handier.

  8. Cola
    May 13th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    I’m pretty sure we have one of these in Portland.

  9. nate
    May 13th, 2009 at 3:32 pm

    @ kkelley – I just got back from Portland and thought I saw something nearly the same by the airport. Thank you for confirming that.

  10. dark horse
    May 14th, 2009 at 3:27 am

    art schools require teachers to have masters degrees, so they tend to make and teach the kind of art that is heavy with pretentious text and self-conscious bullshit, total circle jerk. most art made these days is bloodless and leaves me cold. these horses may not be the most conceptually advanced things ever, but so what? if it makes you pause, and gives you an ahhhh, then why not?

  11. matt
    May 14th, 2009 at 10:15 am

    i’ll wager that any public piece anyone sees like this is actually a Deborah Butterfield, whom kkelly mentioned. deborah is quite famous in the fine art world, and has been for some time, so this whole post has me bewildered.

  12. matt
    May 14th, 2009 at 10:27 am

    did some quick research, and the Portland piece is Butterfield. just google around.

  13. Ashley
    May 14th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    That horse is beautiful.

  14. Zen Moments
    Oct 13th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    An inspiring article by Heather Jansch about how she bean working in driftwood:
    http://www.zenmoments.org/the-beginning/

  15. Zen Moments
    Oct 13th, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    Oops! – that bean should be began…


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Don't Miss: New Stuff | Bestsellers | The Cute Store
                   Funny T-Shirts

Need a gift? Get unforgettable gifts for:
Geeks | Pranksters | Kids | Hipsters | Shutterbugs

Lijit Search

Old school? Bookmark us! RSS Feed Twitter Facebook Page