Rosetta Sculpture -Portfolio

OTHER BIG CATS

Tiger Totem
Sabre Tooth
Snow Leopard
Tiger

Tiger Totem

This is the maquette for a large tiger sculpture that resides in its new home in an office in Singapore. Depicting the requested qualities of “Nobility and Vigilance”, I thought it would make a perfect small wall-hung piece. The fun challenge for me on this piece was to indicate the wonderful pattern of the tiger’s stripes using form instead of color. This can be a wall-hung piece or can sit on a shelf or tabletop to look over those under its protection.

Tiger Totem was featured in the “Animalia” exhibition at the Loveland Museum.

Sabre Tooth

Who hasn't fantasized about the awesome creatures, long extinct, that used to roam our earth (especially our continent!) back when Man was as much a part of nature as they were? And none could have been much more fearsome then the Sabre-tooth cat.

The amazing canine teeth on these animals seem to defy reality. How could they possibly be put to use without getting in the way? But the jaws of these creatures (not of the lineage of felines as we know them today) opened so wide as to allow the teeth to be sunk deep within the huge prey these animals routinely attacked.

Superbly equipped with muscular bodies about the size of today's lions (with shorter, stouter legs, longer necks and shorter lower backs), and those incredible sabre-like teeth, these "cats" were about as fearsome predators as one can imagine. They were not, however, as intelligent as today's felines who learned early on not to get caught in the tar pits that have given us so much of our fossil information about the sabre-tooths. And the felines did, after all, survive to give us the magnificent cats we admire today. The Sabre-tooth did not.

This piece has been exhibited in the Colorado Governor's Invitational, the National Museum of Wildlife Art in WY, "American Women Artists" at Nedra Matteucci Fine Art in Santa Fe, "Animals in the Atrium" at the National Sculpture Society in NY and the Western Rendezvous of Art in MT.

Snow Leopard

The Snow Leopard has to be one of the most beautiful of the Big Cats. His thick, fluffy off-white fur coat with its dark rosette spots is unparalleled in elegance. The unusual patina on this sculpture was developed to give the impression of that unique coloring.

After I had started the clay of this piece, I had the wonderful experience of a private session with Marine World Africa USA's resident Show Leopard, Tasha (a few feet away from me on a leash for half an hour).

Before I met Tasha, I was worried that perhaps I had made my Snow Leopard's tail too big. After I laid eyes on her, I realized it wasn't big enough! In the natural habitat, the tail is used for balance in a steep and rocky terrain, and also as a wrap to protect the sleeping cat from the cold of his desolate high mountain home.

This sculpture has been exhibited at the Cleveland and Virginia Museums of Natural History, The Witte Museum in San Antonio, TX, the San Bernardino County Museums in CA, the Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY and the Colorado Governor's Invitational. It was also in the two-person "Cat Spirit/Cat Strength" exhibition at the Beacon Street Gallery in Geneva, IL.

Tiger

This sculpture depicts a Tiger on the prowl. Frozen mid-stride, all senses are directed toward that sound or slight movement that might indicate the presence of prey.

The next move would be to drop even lower to the ground and proceed forward slowly, haltingly, moving only when the victim looks the other way. The Tiger must get within striking distance without being seen.

The largest of the Big Cats, the tiger is undoubtedly one of the most impressive animals to behold. I had the distinct pleasure of sitting for about an hour with a beautiful female Siberian Tiger with nothing between us but the distance beyond her lead. Very impressive, indeed!

"Tiger" has been shown at the Pacific Rim Wildlife Art Show in WA, the Colorado Governor's Invitational in Loveland, and the Nicolaysen Art Museum in WY.