-Saddle Horse 1934

This little ‘Saddle Horse’ was made by the A.C. Williams Company, sometime after they got started in 1886. It’s cast iron, covered in a sparkly silver paint, and it's tiny, only a few inches tall. I love imagining the person who originally made this. You’re melting metal, pouring it into a mold, letting it cool, and then *boom*, a horse appears. But a ghostly one, that needs silvering! I wonder what they were thinking about as they painted? I like how the surface isn't perfect. It’s got lumps and bumps, like a real horse, and the silver paint is worn away in places, like the horse has been ridden hard. It reminds me that we, as artists, don't just make things. We collaborate with our materials and let the process leave its mark. This little horse is part of a long conversation about how we see and represent the world around us. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and we are all in it together, generation after generation!