Two Metre Golden Horse Sculpture Heads to Showground
A ‘Golden Horse’ which stands more than 2m high will be turning heads at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show.
But it won’t be the animal’s speed or grace in the Main Ring that will be attracting the crowds – the horse in question had been painstakingly created by Yorkshire sculptor Emma Stothard using more than 200 kilos of drawn phosphor copper wire!
The thoroughbred racehorse sculpture will take pride of place on the Council Lawn throughout the three days of the Great Yorkshire Show, which runs from Tuesday 11 to Thursday 13 July 2017.
And Whitby-based Emma, whose artwork graces the gardens of HRH The Prince of Wales’ Highgrove and the windows of top London store Fortnum and Mason, is delighted to be involved in England’s premier agricultural event.
“I am absolutely delighted to be able to bring one of my sculptures to the Great Yorkshire Show, it is brilliant.
“I really hope the ‘Golden Horse’ will be a popular addition to the show and that people will love it and talk about it. It’s a great showcase for my work,” said Emma.
Former art teacher Emma, who left teaching in 2001 to concentrate on sculpting full-time, first used willow for her creations.
With the help of a Prince’s Trust loan, she was able to get her career up-and-running – and when she wrote to the Prince of Wales to thank him for his support, a commission to create a willow sculpture of his beloved dog Tigga followed.
Working in a wide variety of mediums, Emma’s portfolio of work not only includes horses, cows, sheep and pigs, but lobsters, one of which has just been placed in Staithes, Whitby, and dinosaurs!
The Great Yorkshire Show’s ‘Golden Horse’ took Emma two months to create. Working from photographs and sketches, she created a stainless steel armature which she then covered in five different gauges of bronze wire. First put on display at Chelsea Flower Show in May, the wire used for the 17-hand racehorse starts life very shiny, before dulling over time.
“With a little bit of sunshine, the horse really glistens which is why he really is a ‘Golden Horse’,” she said.
This will be the 159th Great Yorkshire Show, held on Tuesday 11 – Thursday 13 July 2017 on the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
