Fire Horse

There are moments when something opens… and there is no going back to the way it was before.

On stage…

Vú Ja Dè was one of those nights - an evening of artists gathering without script, creating in real time, held only by presence and trust.

“Paint and tears flowing - my edges felt edgeless - my heart soft, expansive and powerful.”

From my journal…

Painting while sharing energy, love, loss, presence…it felt like riding a Fire Horse bareback.
Gentleness. Power.

Moments barely hanging on - knowing I could be thrown, and also feeling the horse and I in flight.

I had to trust memory carried through lifetimes of making while immersed in the energy of the audience - the energy of my dear friends on stage and my own emotions.

Prayer and play.

I wasn’t just painting a horse - I was cracking something open in myself. The veil was thin. I became devotion.

Now I am back in the quiet of the studio. Back in the stable. Muscles still trembling from the ride.

The painting is here with me and I am listening for what it wants now.

Vú Ja Dè was a threshold night. An activation. A transformation. Holding intense presence. Feeling everything. No sense of time

Flow - and flowing.

Offering and receiving. Emergence and impermance revealed.

For those who feel curious to witness the evening as it unfolded, the livestream is still available here → Vú Ja Dè event photos courtesy of Yarrow Kranner

The Joy of Connection

One of my favorite things about attending shows is witnessing the reactions and connections people have with my work.

Raymond and I always invite visitors to touch and hold the sculptures. You can easily see how much they want to. There’s something special about that moment of contact - when bronze, story, and spirit meet in a pair of small hands or a curious heart.

Sculpture in the Park

There’s a special energy in the air each year at Sculpture in the Park; artists, collectors, friends, and families gathered in celebration of creativity and connection.

One of my favorite parts is simply being there - surrounded by bronze, laughter, and stories - reconnecting with familiar faces and meeting new kindred spirits.

Grateful for the opportunity to share my work and heart under the big Colorado sky.

Opening Night: Zen Rabbits

A handful of my Zen Rabbits hopped into the world for this show. Quiet companions born from charcoal, breath, and the stillness between thoughts. Each one carries a whisper of calm, a moment of pause in a complex world. I drew them during mornings wrapped in silence, when my mind softened and the hand simply followed my heart. Seeing them on the wall - simple, tender, unguarded - felt like watching peace take shape.

Delightful Evening celebrating autumn and the arts at my studio...

For a few moments near the middle of the evening there was a slight lull in the amount of people surrounding me during which I heard Brad’s deep rich voice as he sang “Burning Ring of Fire.” Ah…my bones simultaneously melted and skipped with happiness. I excused myself, slipped out the door and relished the beautiful autumn evening Momma Nature provided as a stage for the talented friends who shared their magic at the mic.

The studio open house was a whirlwind with enthusiastic and curious guests fulls of questions and shares provoked by my creations and the beauty of this place and space. Raymond and I were so busy engaging with the few hundred people who showed up that we forgot to take photos. Thank you Kostas for capturing one of the savory slices of memories from a rare and special night graced with goodness.

Bhutanese Prayer Flags

For thousands of years, prayer flags have been created and hung to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom. Raymond and I brought these home from Bhutan.

Three prayer flags were raised in front of my studio one-year-to-the-day after Cliff’s death. Three more prayer flags were added on our first anniversary. Nine days later three more flags were raised one year after my mother’s death. The nine prayer flags danced through nearly two full years of sun and snow.

Released by air and wind, prayers and mantras sanctify and purify all-pervading space which becomes a permanent part of the Universe even as the flags fade. Life is replaced by new life. Prayer flags acknowledge the greater cycle which all beings are part of. I gathered the tattered and torn material before the elements scattered them to the ground. Precious pieces of the prayer flags have been dancing their way into my work… finding new life.

Studio Open House - come celebrate with us!

Saturday October 12

4-8pm

160 Hideaway Trail, Livingston, MT

Momma Nature is unfurling her regal autumn regalia - inviting me to open my doors and share the harvest. Several never-before-seen art series, little gems and giant creations will be revealed. Live music, fun gifts and the joy of gathering in this special place at the end of the road above our sweet little town and the Yellowstone River. Come and see us.

Memorable Easter Sunday

Raymond and I were honored to share Easter Sunday adventures on ice with legends Pat Callis and Conrad Anker. Pat is an 86 year old sprite who discovered the ice at Hyalite Canyon decades ago. He is a full time professor at MSU and inspires us all with his gumption and strength.

I highly recommend the documentary “Piton” about Pat Callis for inspiration.

Google Conrad Anker hours of articles (cover of National Geographic, TIME, Outside, etc. The stellar documentary movie Meru is one of our favorites.

Beautiful Moments

I love this bright, brilliant authentic being…! Kate Northrup came into my life last Fall where she continues to dramatically shift and change my world in profound ways. What an honor and pleasure to meet her in person. I soaked up her radiance recently while attending a workshop she presented in Miami.

Interviewed on the Lookout Podcast

Luke transformed his grandfather’s o’l Airstream into a recording studio. His mission to share inspiration via conversation powers him to pull his studio-on-wheels down Montana roads to create authentic connection and content. The windy afternoon we spent together in the silver egg hatched an episode that is candid, intimate and revealing…

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Journal

Wishing you the jolliest of holidays!!!

Perhaps some of you remember the santa carvings I did for Big Sky Carvers during my 20’s? Here is one I stained with pin-striped overalls like my grandfather used to wear as a gift for my mother decades ago.

Walking Down the Aisle

During the few months leading up to our big day, I imagined the moment when Cliff would walk me down the aisle. I would lean into him as I’d done for the better part of my adult life. He would offer his never-in-a-gym bulging mountain man arm for me to wrap into. He would have said something “Cliffy” in that moment meant only for me but loud enough for the guests, the birds and the bears to hear. Whatever he uttered would have been unpredictable with the exception of the inevitable endearment “Honey” spoken like a punctuation point; laden and dripping with golden sweet richness.

Guests wrote on prayer flags and tied them to the Aspen tree under which Cliff and I would have begun the wedding walk together. Strips of wispy white cotton blasted prayers, love and grace which emboldened the steps I took alone.

Not alone.

Despite many kind offers to walk me down the aisle no one could have taken Cliff’s place.

Musical notes leapt from Leslie’s violin and danced with birdsong. I began the walk, seven years ago today.

Season's First Summit

BEAUTIFUL and stunningly memorable summit shared with a dear friend - AND a violinist and ballerina who performed on the summit.

Carrie Krause and Genevieve Tygstad-Burke perform on top of Blackmore Peak (see article here)

BIG "Little" Soren at the Eaglemount Playground

Years ago I created a very special palm-size bronze eaglet sculpture for Eaglemount - a near-and-dear-to-my-heart non-profit. The little sculpture was named after an inspiring youngster who lost his life to cancer. The “little eaglet who could” sculpture continues to help raise funds for Eaglemount. A few years later I was commissioned to create a large version of the little bugger for Eaglemount’s new playground. We visited recently for a community event when Raymond snapped this candid photo.

Sculpture in the Park

Declared by WOOD magazine one of “America’s Woodworking Greats,” Amber Jean was asked by the prime minister of Bhutan to carve an art piece for the retreat palace of the country’s king. Her bronzes are cast from carved wood, such as the life-size bison sculpture at the Bozeman International Airport in Montana. She was voted one of the “Top 25” out of 1500 artists from fifty-three countries at the ArtPrize Competition and Festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is also one of ten women inducted into the Stetson Craftsman’s Alliance. Her work is featured on the Wood Sculpting TV series produced by DIY, and on the Oxygen Network Pure Oxygen show. Her palm-size animal sculptures cast in solid bronze are collected worldwide.

“Spring” - carved in wood and cast in a limited edition bronze

Encouraged by two of the talented artists who work at the foundry in Loveland (where my sculptures are cast in bronze) “Sculpture in the Park” is the largest juried bronze sculpture show in the states. Raymond and I will travel to Loveland next month for the show.

Bozeman Art Museum - "Sacred Roots" exhibit

What a beautiful show….!

Honored to be included in a show with artists such as Debbie Butterfield and others…

Sacred Roots

“Secret Miracles at Work” was the very first reliquary tree sculpture. Daisy let me work in Freeman’s studio back then. I’d had this vision of opening trees…the niche and the hinges were essential clear-to-me basics of the vision.

Three eggs; nested - were an image that appeared three totally different occasions in various ways that couldn’t be ignored and offered a starting point. Four more reliquary trees completed the first series. This first sculpture in the first series was the beginning yet it was also a punctuation point for me as the idea of adding my grandmother’s lingerie persisted ‘til I listened; finally adding the lacy embellishment as the final touch to this piece upon completing the series.

“Sacred Roots” is the compelling title of the current exhibition at the Bozeman Art Museum in which I’m honored to have been asked to show along with the compelling artworks of many artists whom I admire in a theme near and dear to my heart.

“Secret Miracles at Work” - the very first tree reliquary

Ray's Memorial

I wore mother’s wedding ring, my owl Cliff ring, my aunt Nora’s custom made-for-her hat, a dress Raymond brought home for me from bull fighting school, a handmade deer skin blazer which has its own special story, earrings my niece made, a gemstone necklace and several bracelets gifted from friends and my peace/love boots.

Emotional, spiritual and challenging days like Ray’s memorial, I welcome the energy and comfort felt from the things chosen to wear. The spirit and stories of loved ones attached to the adornments empower and deepen connection. Emboldened with meaning; past and present adds presence.

Ray’s memorial service was the most intentional and beautifully meaningful tribute I’ve witnessed so far in my life. More than four hundred people attended. Through them I was gifted an even deeper insight into the quietly humble yet highly impactful life my father-in-law led. We grieve and we feel blessed.

My dear father-in-law

My dear sweet, heart-smart, super kind, extraordinarily intelligent and deeply loving Father-in-law slipped away quietly in his sleep at home yesterday morning after a seven year battle with Alzheimer’s.

The candid photo taken by Robert Osborne and published in Osborne’s book “The Cowboys of Montana” is shared here more for the scrawled inscription than the classic image of Ray (although I LOVE the photo).

We’ve been losing Ray bit by bit for longer than I had the privilege of knowing him fully as his PhD self. But the thing with Ray - he was so authentically open, humble, approachable and loving that even a stranger could quickly feel like (or wish they were) kin to this magnetic man. That part of Ray was never lost.

I can not begin to express my honor at being able to call him “Dad” or the depth of my gratitude for the gift of Ray in my life.

Dr. Ray Ansotegui - July 11,1947-March 2,2023

Dancing with Bulls - insight into the world of protecting bull riders in the rodeo arena

My husband Raymond shared thoughtful insight with passion and humility on the TED stage. Everyone who takes a few moments to watch his talk feels changed, inspired and enlightened…