Sculptor and printmaker, Sandy Scott feels very strongly for and about her subjects. A widely admired etcher of sporting scenes in the 1970s, Scott turned to sculpting in the early 1980s, focusing primarily on birds. Nearly two decades later, she has matured technically and artistically, moving adeptly between subjects wild and domestic, including keen-eyed eagles, sinuous trout, elegant dogs, robust pigs, powerful horses, exotic macaws and arrogant roosters. Scott was born in Dubuque, Iowa and at the age of two, moved with her family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she lived until enrolling in the Kansas City Art Institute from 1961- 1965. She then worked for Calvin Motion Pictures in animation and worked as a flight attendant, eventually earning her pilot’s license. In 1969, she moved to Hawaii and shortly after, to San Francisco, where she worked as a portrait artist and illustrator. She also spent much time in wilderness areas, sailed off-shore and traveled throughout Europe. A few years later, she moved to a rural area near Austin, Texas and began making a name for herself with sporting scenes. In 1978, she did a series of rodeo etchings for the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum in Oklahoma and had a one-woman show there of more than sixty etchings, and in 1982, Scott completed her first sculpture, beginning a new and highly productive phase of her career. Scott’s list of awards and prizes for sculpture and etching includes: The National Academy of Design, New York; Allied Artists, New York; New York Pen and Brush; American Artist’s Professional League; Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, New York; Gold Medal for Sculpture, National Academy of Western Art. Sandy is on the teaching staff of the prestigious Scottsdale Artists’ School in Scottsdale, Arizona, a staff which includes some of the top recognized professional artists at the international level. She is a member of American Artist’s Professional League, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, New York, New York Pen and Brush, Society of Animal Artists and Northwest Rendezvous Group. Today, Scott is recognized as one of the country’s premier animal sculptors, interweaving, as Robin Salmon, curator of sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens, writes, “the continuing thread of the animalier in American Art. The book, Spirit of the Wild Things, published on the occasion of the Gilcrease Museum Rendezvous 1998, documents Sandy’s career and artistic development. Her unique background has enabled her to capture the spirit of her subjects with heartfelt vitality and technical skill. “With a father who is an outdoorsman, my love of the outdoors was cultivated at an early age,” explains Sandy. “I’ve always loved to fish and have backpacked and camped in some of this country’s most beautiful places.” This lifestyle has left lasting impressions on Sandy, and it is this love for nature which radiates from her work. Although at times she works from life, Scott prefers the calm of the studio for her creative work. “It is not feasible to stage a herd of elk or gaggle of geese in my studio, so I rely on my field trips for inspiration. Much of my field work is done with a camera, providing a valuable source of reference. I strive to retain in my work, the feeling and emotion experienced while observing, sketching and photographing in the field.” Sandy Scott divides her time between a studio in Fort Collins, Colorado, and one on an island in Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Canada