Biography
We were thrilled to host local sculptor Lynn Fraley for our last artist-in-residence in 2014. Known for her meticulous work sculpting horses, Fraley is a frequent guest speaker, lecturer, and instructor both locally and nationally. Her work is praised for it’s grace, level of detail, and realistic portrayals of individual horses and their anatomy. During her time at Surel’s Place, however, Fraley explored more personal themes by working more loosely to focus more on gesture.
Fraley led an art talk explaining her process and how she gets from wire and clay to a sculpture full of life and movement, in addition to discussing her efforts to broaden her conceptual exploration using horse imagery as personal language. She also led a workshop during her stay at Surel’s Place about how animals are put together, allowing you to see the structure beneath the skin of just about any animal. Fraley shared the most important secret to her work — once you’re familiar with basic skeletal structure, you can depict any animal, freed from the reliance on “exact” references while still being true to your subject.