82-Lincastcr Farming, Saturday, July 18, 1987
Farm Animals Pm For Dallasfown Artist
BY SHARON SCHUSTER
Maryland Correspondent
DALLAS TOWN—Lorann
Garrety is up to her elbows in the
fanning way of life. She’s not
afraid to get her hands dirty. She
routinely'rolls up her sleeves and
digs in.
The Dallastown, Pa. native
works with farm animals apart
from the barnyard setting. She is a
sculptor, an accomplished artist
who creates fine bronzes fashioned
after live models. Her most recent
work which gained national recog
nition was the 55-pound bronze
bull awarded to the grand champ
ion bull at the Atlantic National
Angus Show in May.
Lorann was on hand at the show
to explain how the bronze bull was
created. The artist studied live
Angus models and also used
photographs to first form a wax
model. A rubber mold was then
made to capture every detail of the
original wax sculpture.
Lorann said she uses the lost
wax process when creating bronz
es. Tlie next step in the process is
- •, PL >lph.
make an elegant dining table. Lorann creates pieces
as small as 3 Inches and as large as life size. “We are
equipped to make a life-sized sculpture of a cow,”
sr Lorann.
tton, a welder, puts the pieces of the sculpture back.together.
wax into the rubber mold to pro
duce a faithful casting of the origi
nal sculpture. After this wax cast
ing was removed from the rubber
mold, Lorann hand finished the
casting with touch-ups to perfecdy
match the detail of her original
sculpture.
The wax casting was then
coated with several layers of cer
amic and fired in a kiln. The cer
amic mold was baked and the wax
was lost during this step (thus the
term “lost wax”).
The ceramic mold was then
filled with molten bronze at a
temperature of 2100‘F. After it
cooled, the ceramic mold was
carefully broken away, and the
bronze bull within appeared. The
raw casting was sandblasted to
remove any traces of ceramic, and
then the seams from the mold were
blended into the figure.
Finally, the bronze was treated
with chemicals and heat in a pro
cess called patination to give it the
color Lorann specified.
“I enjoyed the show,” added
Lorann. “That was more fun than
I’ve had at any art show.” While
the bronze bull was being awarded
to the owners of Dameron Line
drive, Lorann was soliciting
advice for completing the as yet
unfinished bronze cow to be
awarded to the grand champion
cow at the show.
Lorann explained that the cow
would be slightly smaller than the
bronze bull, with the same propor
tion as the live models. While the
bull was fashioned from studying
many live models and photo
graphs, the bronze cow is a true
replica of TC Peggy Sophia, grand
champion female at the Atlantic
National Angus Show. “I had a
chance to work with her at the
show, and I also used her photo
graph on the poster from the
show,” explained Lorann.
While Lorann creates bronzes of
many subjects, she said she has
come to appreciate cows. “My
favorite subject used to be horses,
but now I think it’s cows,” she
said. Lorann has since been com
missioned by the Angus Associa
tion to make a copy of the bronze
bull for the Junior Angus Club to
auction off in July.
While Lorann spends much of
her time at the foundry at Art
Research and Technology in Lan
caster, she said “I do all the messy
work and make all the molds in the
basement at home.” There she has
a private studio in the bedroom and
a gallery that is open by
appointment.
But it’s not all work for Lorann.
She spends time with her daugh
ters, Stacey, 19, and Valery, 16.
And probably not so coincidental
ly, Stacey works with stained
glass, anmd Valery has expressed
an interest in pursuing a career in
commercial art.
At their home in Dallastown,
Lorann and her daughters enjoy
horseback riding. Two years ago,
Lorann rescued two thoroughbred
horses from “a mismanaged herd
that was left to fend for itself.”
With vitamins and lots of caring,
Lorann nursed them back to health
with as much attention to their
structural and muscular detail that
she gives to her bron/c creations.
“They look great now,” she said.
Lorann’s love of horses dates
back to her own first horse that her
parents gave her when she was
twelve. The daughter of a free
lance commercial artist, she began
These horses in bronze won first place at the
Hanover Arts Guild Show. The piece measures
24-by-24 Inches and weighs 126 pounds. This creation
Molten bronze Is poured Into the ceramic molds.
The bed of sand secures the mold.
sketching from her live model. She
developed an interest in fox hunt
ing and became the first lady
huntsman in the local club’s his
tory. She came to know the ways
of horses and hounds and studied
them for detail which now shows
in her exquisite pieces bought by
collectors from around the nation.
Lorann’s works have been exhi
bited at the Maryland Gallery of
Fine Arts, Newberry Farms Art
Gallery, York Hospital, The Annu
al River Walk Art Show, the
Annual Gathering of Artists in
•Lancaster, The Lancaster Wood
Carvers Show, and the Cross
Roads of Sport in New York. Her
training includes study at The
Maryland Institute, School of Art
*Mtnesiead
fj/oip*
and Design, York College, York
Vo Tech and a sculpture class in
Philadelphia. “That was it,” said
Lorann. After that class “I couldn’t
wait to get started. That’s when I
decided to do bronzes.”
Lorann’s determination to
pursue a career creating bronzes
spills over into all her pursuits in
life. “Anything you like to do,” she
idvised, “if you work hard enough,
/ou can make it.”
Sculptures by Lorann Garrety
nay be viewed by appointment at
ter Dallastown gallery
717-246-1253). The artist also
mcourages visits to the foundry
where works are in progress.
717-299-9333).