Tolley Marney - Independence

Title of Piece: Covenant (Horse Head)

Medium: Hand built steel, wood from antique oak furniture circa 1900

Dimensions: Height 18” x Length 23” x Width 8”. About 70 lbs.

Describing a sculpture/object/figure: Heavy, solid and very comforting to touch. The horse’s mane is short with rough pieces of steel. The expanse of wood is mostly smooth. The horse head sits on an old railroad plate (it held the railroad ties to the track). The wood steel is all from used horseshoes. Everything about this sculpture has traveled from somewhere else and been transformed by the journey.

Describe the style and technique you used to create your art: This is a combination of wood and steel. I heated up cold steel in my propane forge. When the steel turns red, about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, I move it with a pair of tongs onto my anvil, where I hammer it into the shape I imagine it to me. The steel stretches and flows under my hammer as it cools, eventually becoming too cold to flow. I return it to my forge and repeat this action and many times and I need to on the sculpture. When enough of a form is built, I take pieces of wood I cut from antique furniture and I glue them into the shape. Adding wood, piece and piece. When I finish, I smooth out the form with an electric grinder. I leave some of the old paint from the funiture, so that the history of the art is alive. This sculpture took about 2-3 months to make using these techniques.