Dixon
Red silver tobiano Shetland Pony stallion, claybody custom by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig from the Pour Horse Collier and custom glazed by Leslie Kathman. Created 2007. Leslie describes her participation: As a finisher, I have found each of these pieces to be a joy to glaze. The pieces have a great deal of surface detail that catch the glaze beautifully. With each piece, I have tried to select colors that both compliment the individual horse, and that allow me to play up what makes them special. In the case with Dixon, I wanted a deep color that I could place along his neck – particularly on the side he faced – to highlight how his skin wrinkled with the turn of his head. I also wanted to use a color with some mealy tendencies, so I could accentuate the tufts of fur inside his ears. I also wanted a mane color I could streak with color to enhance the movement there. So Dixon became a red silver tobiano. (His name, in fact, comes from Earl Dixon, an early breeder of Shetland Ponies, who was the first to systematically breed for the color, and whose ponies did much to popularize the color with the public.) I suspect many will mistake him for a liver chestnut tobiano, but in person his near-black hocks and ear lining, as well as the dark roots in his mane and tail, give him away for what he truly is. He is gloss finished.


Gunther
Leopard appaloosa draft stallion, customized from the Stacey Tumlinson Finn bisque. Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: I have wanted to revisit some of the technique’s I used to create the well-known Okie, “Asheville”, for some time now, and the Finn mold seemed like a good place to see what new things I had learned. Like Asheville, this guy has a faint underlying pattern of dark skin, with a faint blanket pattern visible in areas. On top of that are black leopard spots, all somewhat directional (they skew slightly with the direction of the hair). The larger spots are haloed and there are ‘shadow spots’ throughout the coat. I’ve also my ‘streaking’ technique extensively on his mane, tail and hooves. He has a blaze with a mottled muzzle, and hind stockings (which is why only his front hooves are striped – the hind ones are shell hooves). All in all, he probably has more handwork on him than any piece I have done to date.


Chesney
Black silver dapple pony stallion, customized from the Sarah Rose Hadrian bisque. Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: Over the years I’ve certainly researched a lot of really odd horses, but it’s rare that the really wild stuff ever makes it onto a model. So he’s a bit of an exception. I worked on him during the coldest part of winter, so maybe it was my wish for sun that made me try a sunburned black. (He does get his name from the song, “All I want for Christmas is a real good tan”!) That was what I was shooting for, but I think he looks a bit more like an aged black silver with the dark streaks in his nearly flaxen mane. Then I added a few patterns – first splash to give him a very white face and blue eyes, and then sabino to lace the edges of his markings. But his most unusual pattern is only really visible from above, where he sports reticulated spots, sometimes called “lacing” or “giraffe markings”. All in all, it makes Chesney a rather exotic fellow and probably not much like any other Hadrian out there.


Lavaliere
Pale apricot dun tobiano with lacy blanket draft stallion, customized from the Kristina Lucas Francis Clinky bisque. Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: I have a soft spot for this type of pale, pastel coloring, and I couldn’t resist putting it on Kristina’s Clinky. This guy is a pale apricot dun tobiano, but on top of that I’ve added a lacey, spotted blanket with slightly deeper over-spotting. His mane and tail – at least the parts not covered by his tobiano pattern – are streaked in varying tones of apricot, red-brown and deep chocolate. He has a blaze with slight skin mottling visible around the edges, and detailing on his shell hooves. But my favorite is his pretty face, which combined with his soft coloring and the sweeping lines of his mane and tail, give him a rather romantic look.


Bentley
Dapple bay Tarpan stallion, customized from the Pour Horse Nomad earthenware bisque. Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: I said I would eventually get brave enough to dapple a solid horse in earthenware. The technique requires an extremely soft touch, and it’s not especially forgiving. The prospect of spending hours on layers, only to ruin it somewhere along the line, was pretty discouraging. But I thought I could pull it off, and that’s how I got Bentley. He’s a Pour Horse Nomad (because it was easier to be brave on a mold that is easy to demold and clean!), and he’s a dappled bay with a blaze and hind socks. He ranges in color from a bright golden-red to deep chocolate and black, all with soft, subtle transitions. I couldn’t be more pleased (well, I might be even more pleased if I am able to ever pull this type of color off again).


Violet
Chestnut sabino Cob mare, customized from the Pour Horse Limerick bisque. Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: When I did the dapple grey Limerick “Tweed” for the last lottery, I knew I’d have to do the other color I tend to think of as quintessentially English – a bright red chestnut with sabino markings. Violet is probably a good bit louder than the typical sabino Cob, but I think all her lacey markings flatter her. She also has a golden flaxen mane (roached, of course) and tail, and intricately detailed shell hooves. But the real detail on her is in those markings, from the irregular patches on her forlegs and ticked jawline to her extensively patterned belly.


Boston
Dark bay tobiano draft stallion, customized from the Stacey Tumlinson Finn bisque. Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: One of the most popular horses from the last lottery was the brown tobiano Hadrian, Hershey. I had feared that collectors would not like such a dark horse (dark does not always translate well in gloss), but once it was clear that this was not a problem, I knew I’d have to try the color on a Finn. Unlike Hershey, I gave the Finn a large, irregular facial marking, thinking it would give him a rather jaunty look. What I didn’t count on was how that effect would be completely overpowered by his large, liquid eyes. They give him a sweet, gentle expression (and probably make him very stereotypically one of my pieces). He also has lovely handwork in his variated mane, and on the grain of his hooves. (It is difficult to capture the tonal variations on dark, glossy horses - especially with my limited photo-editing skills! So his body color has been flattened out in these pictures more so than it is in person.)


Calico Jack
Red bay tovero Vanner stallion, customized from the Horsing Around Galileo bisque. Created 2007 as a raffle donation for Buccaneer Live. Leslie describes this piece: "Calico Jack" is a Horsing Around Galileo (the "Vanner" version). He has been custom glazed to a deep, red bay tovero with an irregular snip and a white lower lip. The edges of his pattern are ragged with areas of roaning. And in honor of the show's theme, if you look closely at his left shoulder you might just make out a pirate's skull and crossbones. Argh!!!


Dawson
Fleabit grey draft stallion, claybody custom from the Pour Horse Collier by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig, custom glazed by Leslie Kathman. Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: He started out as a Pour Horse "Collier", though he looks quite different now. Sarah turned head, opened his mouth and gave him a longer mane and tail. He also has the little details that weren't practical in the production Colliers, like carved hooves and ears. (For those unfamiliar with the Collier mold, it is mini-scale, so Dawson is 3" tall.) Sarah then send him here, where he was glazed a fleabitten grey with a creamy white mane and tail. His color actually grew out of discussion Sarah and I had when I visited her studio in May. We both were working on techniques to give the hair-by-hair detail without the scale issues so many paint jobs of that type have. It is hard enough to suggest the grainy quality of greys (fleabitten ones in particular) in mixed-media cold painting. In underglaze ceramics, we have only a few tools with some big limitations. But I wanted to see if I could revisit this color - which is one of my favorites - and stretch what was possible using multiple layers. So there are layers upon layers of ticking on him, giving his coat far more depth than I've been able to achieve in the past. I think the color suits him well! He also have four socks and a blaze, and inside his partially opened mouth you can see just the hint of teeth. His hooves have hoof-grain detailing along with the carving of the undersides. Sarah's signature was etched into his belly before firing, and my maker's mark was added in glaze beside it.


Name unknown
Dapple grey draft stallion, custom glazed from the Pour Horse Collier by Leslie Kathman; created circa 2004. Leslie describes this piece: This little guy was done a few years ago. I was experimenting with subtle variations in color formulas for dapple grey, so there were a bunch of them done around the same time so I could set them side-by-side. Some might remember a much darker grey Collier, Beauxbaton, who was also part of that same group. She and this one were painted with the same colors, only Beauxbaton had many more layers of the darkest tones. She was also matte finished, while this guy was glossed. The other piece from the set was another lottery piece, an Animal Artistry (bone china) Welsh Pony named Clan Revel. He was painted almost indentically to this Collier. What I was looking for was the different in heavier dark tones, in gloss versus matte, and bone china versus earthenware. The tonal differences were rather striking in all three, at least in person.


Alaska
Silver daple pinto grade gelding, custom glazed from the Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunit Stormwatch; created 2008. Leslie describes this piece: I decided to call my guy "Alaska", because the golden-brown ends of his dirty mane and tail reminded me of the meringue topping on a Baked Alaska. And it did seem appropriate to name the fellow after some kind of food!

2007 Minkiewicz-Breunig Sporthorse Medallion
Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: "Karamel" is the first of Sarah Minkiewicz's new ceramic plaque depicting a Warmblood stallion. Sarah sculpted him, and he displays all the lifelike detailing her work is so well know for. I glazed him to a warm buckskin with an intricate, lacey tovero pattern. Although it is hard to see in the photos, his white areas are softly shaded with warm, creamy tones that bring out the lovely wrinkles on his neck. The background was done with slatey blue art glaze with subtle golden flecking, which really compliment the coloring on the horse. It's a larger piece - 5 1/2" across from the tip of his nose to the back of his shoulders.

Celtic Pony Medallion in sooty palomino with silver mane
Known as "Julius". Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece and medallion: When I originally sculpted the medallion, it was going to be used for awards and gifts. Since it wasn’t exactly an edition, I didn’t bother to name the piece. It became the “Celtic Pony” medallion by default, because that’s how my customers had begun referring to it. That seemed to work well enough for the art glazed awards. These two guys [this piece, and Theo below], however, informed me that they are entitled to proper names – just like the “real” horses. No impersonal Celtic Pony in Sooty Palomino. “We have eyes,” they informed me. “Things with eyes need names. You do not omit naming someone just because he lacks legs.” Julius is a deep, rich palomino with a silver mane and tail. You can see the faint ear lining a lot of sooty palominos get, and he has slightly paler eyes than his buddy Theo, though that isn't visible at the angle this picture was taken. The color on the background is a rich denim blue (it looks more green in this photo than it actually is) with golden flecks, which compliments his color nicely.

Celtic Pony Medallion in red bay tovero
Known as "Theo." Created 2007. Leslie describes this piece: Theo is a little more flamboyant than his buddy Julius. He's a rich red bay tovero with a frosted, streaked forelock. His lacey pattern edges follow the sculpted hair detail, which was a lot of fun to do. His background is rich mossy green (a little darker than the green I often use when art glazing) with a lot of contrast on the raised details.

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