"Sculptor's Newest Works Have a Jungle Feel" by Brenda Binkerd Livingston Enterprise Saturday, January 01, 2000

Everything’s coming up roses for Livingston artist Amber Jean-well, make that elephants, exotic birds and giraffes.

Amber Jean, whose wood pieces include hand-carved gun cabinets, fountains, chests and, last summer, a 14-foot totem carved from solid chocolate, is known for her lifelike renditions of animals of the West. Her newest creations feature animals that live a bit closer to the equator.

Macaws, giraffes, elephants and tigers, as well as bears, mountain lions and elk, are all featured in striking wood creations on view at Amber Jean’s studio located on the corner of Lewis and 11th behind the Holiday Gas Station in Livingston.

The public is invited to view her newest works at a studio open house Friday, Jan. 28, from 5 to 8 p.m. Four of her pieces will soon be exhibited at a show in Reno.

Wednesday, Amber Jean was putting the finishing touches on the headboard for her newest bed creation. She started the piece around the first of September, but since the first of January had worked on it 24 days without a day off. The headboard, made of juniper and tiger stripe mahogany, features a charging elephant, inspired by a dream.

“The elephant headboard was somebody else’s dream,” said Amber Jean, laughing.

When she ordered the wood Amber Jean planned to carve something else in it, but the color and texture lent itself to the elephant, she said.

Rather than follow a rigid plan, Amber Jean looks to the wood for inspiration. And finding the right wood is an important part of her work.

“It all comes from the wood,” she said “People sometimes have one idea and are afraid to take another trail.”

“Wood is becoming more of an international thing for me,” she said adding she orders woods from around the world.

Another bed frame, created by Amber Jean last summer, featured horses in motion on both the headboard and footboard. It won awards at the Western Design Conference in Cody, Wyo., has since been purchased by the owner of a private guest ranch in Holland, an was the focus of a feature story in the January issue of Cowboys and Indians magazine.