Eclectic Equines

An equine-themed exhibition captures the spark between human and horse.

This piece first appeared in The Vermont Standard.

For all of her life, Woodstock artist Christine Orcutt-Henderson has been immersed in the fervent world of horses. She has a passion for equine creatures that human language can’t adequately convey; a horse is an “emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words” said a late, noted equestrian trainer. The source of Orcutt-Henderson’s fascination, and that of millions of her contemporaries and predecessors, may lie in the horse’s inherent contradictions: its powerful hind quarters vault its thousand pounds or more over obstacles too high or too broad for lighter, more agile animals; it balances its massive heft with grace and elegance on tiny, fragile foundations; it collaborates in complex partnerships with the likes of man, a species that it instinctively views as potential predator.

Years of training, riding, and grooming horses, of 4 am barn checks and more competitions than she can count, have left Orcutt-Henderson feeing that she’s experienced the spark that brings man and animal together. So when she puts brush to canvas, it is often to paint striking and fluid renderings of horses, depictions that transcend words and go beyond representation of just flesh and hoof and mane. “I feel like I find the inner beauty of the horse,” she says.

Orcutt-Henderson’s multiple interpretations of the essence of the horse will be among the works on display in the ArtisTree Gallery’s new show, Eclectic Equines, which opens on Saturday, May 5 with a Kentucky Derby Day party from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. The exhibit will also feature the unusual constructions of sculptors Lindsey Molyneux and Helen Weatherall, and unique images from photographers Dennis and Laura Tatro.

Orcutt-Henderson’s ties to the horse business, and to the Woodstock area, stretch back several generations. She was born on her grandmother’s Morgan horse farm, one of three such Massachusetts establishments owned by members of her extended family. Relatives close and distant on both sides were involved in all aspects of the enterprises. “We had someone who taught riding, someone who bred, someone who raised,” says Orcutt-Henderson, “we had a veterinarian and a blacksmith. It was one stop shopping in our family.”

Her grandmother and great aunt both had small homes in the Woodstock area; they and their kin had their hands in shaping the local Green Mountain and American Morgan Horse Associations. A pigtailed “little Chrissie,” as she was known in these parts, spent every summer and every vacation in Vermont, making friends, riding, and pursuing an emerging artistic talent by sketching. Eventually, her aptitude for art dominated, and she found herself teaching art classes, not riding classes, and painting horses instead of showing them. “It’s something that evolved,” she says.

In her current work, Orcutt-Henderson favors bold strokes and commanding, sometimes monochromatic, palettes on large scale canvases that are, say, 48×60 or 30×40 inches. She works in acrylics, relying mostly on burnt sienna, black, white in two shades, and the three primary colors, which she mixes and thins or thickens to get various effects. “It’s pretty versatile,” she says, “I’ve made acrylics that look like water color and I’ve made acrylics that look like oil.”

She often chooses unusually angled or truncated perspectives of her subjects. In one piece, for example, a mare looks wistfully back over her shoulder, her icy blue neck a long and graceful curve. In another, Orcutt-Henderson narrows the view to a tousled slivery mane and a saddle-less upper back, rendered in browns and golds.

The painter has had the idea for an equestrian themed art exhibit in her head for a while, and when the community-oriented ArtisTree gave her pitch the nod, she recruited some of her artist friends.

Sculptor Lindsey Molyneux, who knows Orcutt-Henderson from their days years ago as fellow employees in a local tack shop, also draws on a life-long experience with horses for her art. But she celebrates the creatures’ many manifestations in an unexpected way. “I lived in South Royalton, and I was right on the White River. I didn’t have a lot of money, and there was this really cool material,” says Molyneux, referring to driftwood, the twisted and sort of petrified roots of dead trees, that she found “in abundance” in the river bed. She gathered some up, and fashioned a horse by fitting and fastening the pieces.

She was so happy with the result that she has continued to make them. Ten years later, and in spite of now living out of state, she still gets most of her wood from the banks of the White River. For Eclectic Equines, Molyneaux is showing large, wall-mounted driftwood heads, and some smaller, copper sculptures. “I’m bringing my newest generation,” she says, “A lot of people have seen my older work, the new work is more realistic and less abstract. I’m happy with the material and I like the process.”

What Helen Weatherall describes as “three dimensional drawings” are in fact sculptures as well. But the foot and a half or so horses that she creates by bending and twisting common variety hardware-store wire have the look and feel of free-flowing lines. With her hands and needle-nosed pliers, Weatherall begins by shaping ears and then working down through a jaw-line. “Even if I think I know what kind of horse I’m making, the head starts to tell me about it, about what kind of temperament the horse has,” she says, “sometimes it is really easy and sometimes I fight with it.”

And while many of her finished pieces are composites of several horses, Weatherall does sometimes fashion a likeness of a particular horse. She will, for example, be showing her sculpture, Zenyatta’s Dance. It’s a piece she created to honor the exuberant, and intensely competitive, racehorse Zenyatta, a mare as well known for her high-stepping pre- and post-race dances as she is for her astounding record. When she retired in 2010, Zenyatta was undefeated until her 20th and final race, the Breeder’s Cup Classic, where she ran a distant dead last through most of the race, then miraculously rallied in the home stretch to finish second by inches. For Weatherall, Zenyatta embodies what she most admires in horses. “My work is really about my love of form,” she says “horses are so powerful and so beautiful, and there’s such variation in their form. There’s a lot to work with.”

Amongst the sculptures and paintings of Eclectic Equines, Dennis and Laura Tatro of Denlore Photography will show a portfolio of their action photographs. The pair run a Morgan horse breeding farm in Sharon, Vermont, and also travel, with cameras, to many local competitions. “Our work is unusual, there are two of us shooting,” says Dennis Tatro, “I do the inside work in the ring, and my wife gets the loveable shots on the outside.” The Tatros have chosen ten or so special images for the show, including two of their all-time favorites. One is of a mounted cowboy, booted and hatted in full regalia; his steed, though, stands breast deep in a pond. “Everybody loves that shot,” says Dennis. Another was taken on a typical New England bad weather day, rain pouring down, puddles forming; in the photo, a carriage driver and horse splatter by. “The horse is straight out, full extension,” says Dennis, “it’s a very exciting shot.”

Orcutt-Henderson’s dream for Eclectic Equines included a fun opening party, and so the exhibit will open with a proper Kentucky Derby bash. The Derby itself will be projected on the wall of the art room at ArtisTree; adults can sip mint juleps as they watch. There will be a caravan for kids who decorate stick ponies. For those who must have their Derby bling, there will be makings for fascinators, feathery and sparkly hair adornments. And the band Summit of Thieves will play live, classic rock and roll, with a modernizing twist.

 

“Bud” by Christine Orcutt-Henderson