15 Horse Block Sculptures Merging Classic And Modern Art By Susan Leyland

Susan Leyland was born in the UK but is currently based in Tuscany, Italy. She works out of a small studio converted from an old wooden stable in her garden just outside of Florence. Over the years, she has developed a signature style called “Horse Block Sculpture”, where horses merge from geometric figures.  While living in Italy during the early 1980s, Leyland worked as a fashion model. She moved on to working as a riding instructor until the year 2000. As a hobby, she crafted small sculptures using the local Impruneta clay. Having her work exhibited in several exhibitions in between led to her successfully taking up sculpting full-time approximately 25 years ago.  More info: SusanLeyland |EquineSculptures.Com

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Image Source: SusanLeyland Leyland has gained international acclaim for Horse Block Sculpture. Art collectors and horse-lovers worldwide have flocked to her art, lauding its “uniqueness in form and concept, as well as for quality, harmony and beauty”.

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Image Source: SusanLeyland Describing her art, Leyland explained that, “Her horses blend with the bases creating a flow of innovative shapes and negative spaces. The bases are architectural, geometrical, pedestal-like like or they ground the work with simple rectangles, squares or spheres.”

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Image Source: SusanLeyland Further elaborating on the process involved in her hand-made creations, Leyland said, “The process behind a sculpture is to first sketch ideas, exploring new shapes and possibilities.  Once the design and size are decided, the base is made, and the horses are added. Working on a sculpture can take a week to four months, depending on the size and the number of horses. The sculptures are fired for a week in a furnace reaching over 1000 degrees, becoming white.”

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  Image Source: SusanLeyland Leyland has received prestigious commissions from private and corporate clients and collectors, including the War Horse Memorial, a one and a half life size memorial, to recall the suffering of animals in World War I, located in Ascot UK and the commission to design and make five life-size bronze golden horses for the Sun God Waterfall fountain, Bà Nà Hills, Da Nang, in Vietnam. Her horse block sculptures also come in bronze. Made out of semi-refractory clay as numbered editions, they each come with a certificate of authenticity.

#11 Five Golden Fountain Horses, Ba Na Hills, Vietnam

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#13 War Horse Memorial, Ascot UK

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