Classic, Graceful
and Timeless
The
Equine Art of Cary van Dansik
Emman,
Netherlands
Today you
will find Cary van Dansik at his drawing board, in the old complacent hay barn in
the picturesque Dutch countryside. The
barn has been refurbished into a beautiful sculptor’s studio with all the
amenities, producing only the finest in bronze life-size equine art. Van Dansik
is a world-famous equine bronze portraiture and sculptor, creating
one-of-a-kind limited bronze pieces.
Since
Kindergarten, van Dansik has been creating, dreaming and crafting. “As a child of four, I was already drawing
horses in a special way. The teachers noticed; it wasn’t normal for a child of
that young age to be caught drawing horses at his desk. The teachers told my parents about this,” van
Dansik says. “The teachers suggested giving me a special education in art, but
my Father, coming from an old butchers-tradition, decided otherwise by
providing a solid and secure trade, no question about it! When my Father decided not to send me to the
Academy of Art, I was very sad and angry, but at present, I am so grateful he
didn’t. The lessons I have learned on my own, by analyzing and studying, one
can not learn at any Art Academy!”
Van
Dansik’s skill developed naturally. His God-gifted
talent and love for horses has progressed into the world’s most beautiful equine
art. He explains, “The great and famous
English painter, George Stubbs, was an excellent example for me. He would take a dead horse into his studio to
study its anatomy! I can understand why he did so. It has been essential for me
to learn the structure and the function of all the bones, muscles and what
makes the possible movements of this wonderful creature!”
The
process of creating a life-size masterpiece requires patience, mathematics, fortitude,
passion, and steady hands. “It all starts on the drawing board where I make my
sketches from an idea and from pictures. Then I make the necessary calculations
to make the bronze life-size,” van Dansik explains. “It is important to make an
anatomically correct solid iron armature (skeleton). After the skeleton is prepared, I begin
modeling with clay or modeling wax. In
that stage, I can still present the results to the client for changes (if it is
a portrait-commission). Once the
armature is complete, the people from the local foundry come and take the
statue to cast it into bronze. It is all finished under my close supervision.”
The
Baroque breeds are van Dansik’s favorite to sculpt; Spanish, Andalusian,
Frisians, Lipizzaner, as well as the special movers - English Hackney and the
Dutch Harness. Van Dansik says, “All
horse breeds are fascinating and a solid source of inspiration for me! But, of
course, the Father of all horses is the Arabian! Especially the pure Egyptian
Arabian. They have all that you look for
in art – expression, nobility, grace and a divine beauty that I can hardly
describe!” van Dansik has written a poem to express their beauty….
Behind
these doors lays the new stage where I hope to perform
To
continue my work as an Equine Sculptor
Behind
these doors lays also my dream
To make my masterpiece tomorrow…
Behind
these doors lays also many tears and desperation
A new day
will come, to struggle to fight all over
Just to
reach a shadow of God’s most wonderful creature
My life
goal, the perfect bronze image of an Arabian horse
But
tomorrow…tomorrow!!
Van
Dansik is surrounded by horses. “The
negative side of being successful is having a lack of spare time, and you do
need a lot of time to spend on horses, because they are your children and
entitled to get the attention they need!! If you don’t have the time, you can’t
have horses!” Van Dansik exclaims.
Developing
his own technique, style and approach to create exclusive works of art, van
Dansik has produced over thirty bronze horse editions from desk-size sculptures
to life-size statues. His work is
envied, one-of-a-kind, valuable and timeless.
Why
sculpt horses? “No special reason!” van Dansik says. “They have always been
there. I just can’t imagine life without horses. I must have been a horse once
myself!”
Follow Carry
van Dansik; view his current projects http://www.vandansik.com/
Gina
McKnight is an author and freelance writer from USA
Original Publication 2012 Going Gaited.
All Rights Reserved.
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