athleen Moody is an exceptional artist known for her Breyer models and her many sold-out resins which were cast and sold through DaBar Enterprises. Though not as widely known, Kathleen also sculpted a number of pieces for Hartland as well. The following pages show the resins she has produced over the past few years, painted by herself as well as other artists so you can see how each looks in a staggering variety of colors. A number of her pieces have also been released through Resins by Randy.
Kathleen sculpted a number of pieces for Safari, including "baboon on all fours, a growling, crouching leopard (or was it a jaguar?) with a cub, a moose baby, a cow family, and a panda bear on all fours with a cub. There were actually five horses- the arab with the used-car-salesman grin, a standing TB, and a running QH (try creating a gallop with all four feet on the ground-!) and a standing foal with tail flipped and a trotting foal."
Kathleen also sculpted a few pieces for Hartland/Stevens that have not been produced including: Morab Stallion, Missouri Fox Trotter (similar to the one issued by Breyer), Trakehner doing the piaffe.
If you would like to get in touch with Kathleen, click on her name to send email, join the MoodyMadness Yahoo group, or check out the website that she sells her resins on: http://home.theartofkathleenmoody.com/
Kathleen answers some fans' questions:
How do molds get their names?
Usually the horses are named at Breyer and often after a real horse.
Do you sculptors tell the companies "This is what I named this mold" or do the companies say "Hey, we'd really like to add Horse X to our line. Could you come up with a mold for it? Like Huck, for example - did you design him to be an Arab stallion in general, or Huckleberry Bey in particular?
All of the above. And it all depends on the horse. "Huckleberry Bey" was created to BE that horse. They asked me to do HUCK not a generic Arab stallion.
Most of the time if I have a generic horse to do, I name the mold- like Marabella or the Amber and Ashley twin foals (who are named after my twin daughters).
Sometimes I name the horse and they choose not to use that name- like the Andalusian Stallion whose original name was "Elegante`" . They have that right afterall, it IS their horse.
You said Bouncer was influenced by a former list member - was it intended to just be a Welsh Pony, or Cefnoakpark Bouncer? Or did Breyer see it and someone knew of Bouncer & they decided that'd be the first color done on the mold? And is it officially known as Bouncer, or Welsh Pony?
Breyer named the Welsh Pony "Bouncer" after a real horse. I don't know where they find the horses they use, but I did not have a name for that pony. (My pony‚s name was Indiana Raider.) Since that name was the first to come out with the pony that is probably what he will hereafter be known as.
Do you get any say over what colors end up on your molds? Or do you give all rights up once you give them the final sculpt?
I do not have a say over what colors will be used on the horse. They own all the rights to the horse. However, for a subcontractor, I have a great deal of freedom when it comes to design and decoration of my horses. Occasionally I paint up a sample or two for fun and submit it. (The "Paint-a-loosa" pattern used on the Jumper as a JAH SR a few years back was mine.) Sometimes I will do a special color for a special horse- like the QVC "Phoenix Raising" which was a picture pinto done on the Silver mold a few years back. That paint job came with a story as well as a unique pattern. Most of the time I am too busy doing new horses to worry about what color it will come out in.
Photo Credits:
Top: Magnificence, bay stallion customized by
Chris Nandell.
Middle: Aristotle, seal bay blanketed Appaloosa mule customized by Chris Nandell
Bottom: Utopia II, in chestnut pinto (customized by unknown) shown with two prototypes of smaller sized versions.
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