Maggie Bennett
I’ve been sculpting for most of my life, although it’s only been in the past three or four years that I’ve really
worked to improve my sculpting. I’m pretty much all self-taught—I started sculpting because I couldn’t
afford to buy Breyers, and there really wasn’t anyone around to teach me. I don’t think high school art
classes count—they certainly did not focus on realistic miniature horse sculptures!
I never had a real horse as a child. Maybe if I had, I would not have been so obsessed with the model
ones! I’ve loved horses since I read Misty of Chincoteague at about 8 years old and found the Breyer Misty
model at the same time—I had to have one, and saved for months to afford this little $14 model. I started
sculpting in non-hardening modeling clays around that time, working in a scale somewhat smaller than
Stablemates. These were perfect for me, because, as a kid, what I needed was horses that could be
posed! Non-hardening clay had its disadvantages though; I remember coming back to the hot car one day
to find my beloved horses turned into gooey puddles. I started working in micro mini scale around 1997 or
so, and have loved it ever since.
When I start a sculpture, I usually have a feel in mind for it. It may be as general as “I want a lot of mane
flying around” or as specific as “I want to capture the sudden movement that this horse makes when we is
released from his stall”. I like working from photographs, at least as references for proportions. The micro
mini Andalusian, for example, was originally sculpted following a photo fairly closely. I prefer different
scales for different reasons. Traditional are good because it’s a lot harder to misplace a 12” horse than a
1 ½” one! (did I mention I am extraordinarily untidy most of the time?) My sculptures have NAN qualified
many times. To my knowledge, none have been shown at NAN. I have shown some sculptures in venues
outside the model horse world, but this has been extremely limited as the “fine art” world doesn’t seem to
have much use for realistic mini horses.
Right now, I work with a group of six to eight lesson horses. I’ve only been in riding lessons for a little over
a year, but I’m really enjoying it. Living in the suburbs meant that there were rarely horses anywhere in the
area, and I was delighted to discover that the University of Maryland has a riding stable on campus, only a
few minutes’ walk from my dorm! There are a variety of breeds, from Thoroughbreds to a paint, including
several quarter horses and a couple of warmbloods—a nice variety of reference material for sculpting
from!
I strive for expression and realism in my sculptures. Especially in larger sculptures like Claude, I really
want to capture and emotion, a feeling, a moment of time. I find it far more difficult to do this in smaller
scales, as there really is only so much detail possible in a micro mini before it would simply be invisible. I
do try to keep things realistic at the same time, as seeing my sculptures that are not quite “correct” really
grates on my nerves. This leads to my habit of simply chopping off bits of a horse I don’t like and
resculpting them. Again, Claude is a perfect example of this—the poor horse has gone through at least
two heads, three tails, and an all-new neck, shoulders…When I am not happy with something, I keep
working on it!
I am currently attending the University of Maryland, where I am majoring in materials engineering with a
focus on art preservation and conservation. This means that I spend a lot of time in class (although not as
much as I should) and on homework (definitely not as much time as I should spend on it!). I like animals,
and I have a dog (who of course does not live on campus with me), a couple of gerbils (again, not here on
campus), and a whole bunch of fish (which are allowed on campus!). I love reading, especially authors
like Terry Pratchett and Clive Cussler, among others. The model horses seem to take up most of my free
time, though!
worked to improve my sculpting. I’m pretty much all self-taught—I started sculpting because I couldn’t
afford to buy Breyers, and there really wasn’t anyone around to teach me. I don’t think high school art
classes count—they certainly did not focus on realistic miniature horse sculptures!
I never had a real horse as a child. Maybe if I had, I would not have been so obsessed with the model
ones! I’ve loved horses since I read Misty of Chincoteague at about 8 years old and found the Breyer Misty
model at the same time—I had to have one, and saved for months to afford this little $14 model. I started
sculpting in non-hardening modeling clays around that time, working in a scale somewhat smaller than
Stablemates. These were perfect for me, because, as a kid, what I needed was horses that could be
posed! Non-hardening clay had its disadvantages though; I remember coming back to the hot car one day
to find my beloved horses turned into gooey puddles. I started working in micro mini scale around 1997 or
so, and have loved it ever since.
When I start a sculpture, I usually have a feel in mind for it. It may be as general as “I want a lot of mane
flying around” or as specific as “I want to capture the sudden movement that this horse makes when we is
released from his stall”. I like working from photographs, at least as references for proportions. The micro
mini Andalusian, for example, was originally sculpted following a photo fairly closely. I prefer different
scales for different reasons. Traditional are good because it’s a lot harder to misplace a 12” horse than a
1 ½” one! (did I mention I am extraordinarily untidy most of the time?) My sculptures have NAN qualified
many times. To my knowledge, none have been shown at NAN. I have shown some sculptures in venues
outside the model horse world, but this has been extremely limited as the “fine art” world doesn’t seem to
have much use for realistic mini horses.
Right now, I work with a group of six to eight lesson horses. I’ve only been in riding lessons for a little over
a year, but I’m really enjoying it. Living in the suburbs meant that there were rarely horses anywhere in the
area, and I was delighted to discover that the University of Maryland has a riding stable on campus, only a
few minutes’ walk from my dorm! There are a variety of breeds, from Thoroughbreds to a paint, including
several quarter horses and a couple of warmbloods—a nice variety of reference material for sculpting
from!
I strive for expression and realism in my sculptures. Especially in larger sculptures like Claude, I really
want to capture and emotion, a feeling, a moment of time. I find it far more difficult to do this in smaller
scales, as there really is only so much detail possible in a micro mini before it would simply be invisible. I
do try to keep things realistic at the same time, as seeing my sculptures that are not quite “correct” really
grates on my nerves. This leads to my habit of simply chopping off bits of a horse I don’t like and
resculpting them. Again, Claude is a perfect example of this—the poor horse has gone through at least
two heads, three tails, and an all-new neck, shoulders…When I am not happy with something, I keep
working on it!
I am currently attending the University of Maryland, where I am majoring in materials engineering with a
focus on art preservation and conservation. This means that I spend a lot of time in class (although not as
much as I should) and on homework (definitely not as much time as I should spend on it!). I like animals,
and I have a dog (who of course does not live on campus with me), a couple of gerbils (again, not here on
campus), and a whole bunch of fish (which are allowed on campus!). I love reading, especially authors
like Terry Pratchett and Clive Cussler, among others. The model horses seem to take up most of my free
time, though!
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