SHEENA CAMERON

In 1981 Sheena Cameron moved to Dixon, New Mexico, half-way between Taos and Santa Fe, from her native Boston. Cameron had received a BFA in ceramic sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art in 1969 then spent the next 30 years making art jewelry. Finally, in 2003 she got back to her first love, working with clay, and started experimenting with making horses. “They seemed to take on a life of their own,” Cameron says.

Sturdy creatures that stand on masonry nails Cameron's "Messenger Horses" are stoneware, Raku, and some fired in a Japanese style wood-burning kiln. Within the ceramic bodies Cameron creates a compartment that hold secret treasures - fossils, crystals, gemstones or hand-made jewelry. The names of the horses and what she writes about the symbolism of the materials she uses, comes to her as she works on each piece and is recorded in each horse’s little book. Cameron’s horses are both contemporary and mythic.