Sculptor Star Liana York celebrates canines and cats in her upcoming show at Sorrel Sky Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The gallery will host a special VIP event and fashion show on horseback July 6, the night before the official exhibition opening. Inspired by the need in their own community, York, Sorrel Sky and collectors Dion and Charlie Messer are joining forces to raise funds for the Horseshoe Canyon Rescue Ranch in Northern New Mexico, which takes in animals of all shapes and sizes.
Call of the Wild, bronze, 19 x 37 x 25”
“She’s just one of the most lovely human beings—beautiful inside and out,” Sorrel Sky owner Shanan Campbell says of York. “So generous. You know she’s always donating her work to causes that are near and dear to her.”
Best known for her horses and Indigenous figures, York came to wildlife sculpture later in her career. A commission to create a life-size coyote for a Palm Springs golf course opened her up to wildlife work and challenged her to see how she could make her own mark in a crowded field.
Bronzes of Guard Duty and Bobkit Trio.
“There are so many wildlife artists out there, and sculptors, that I thought, ‘I want to be able to do something different,’” says York. “What I wanted to bring to it was a sense of a character to wildlife,” she says, noting how much personality she observes in the coyotes, magpies and ravens on her New Mexico ranch.
“She is capturing the spirit of that animal and you can really see it in the eyes of her pieces,” says Campbell. “I’ve never seen another artist be able to do it the way that she does.” Another hallmark of York’s playful animal sculptures is their surface quality, one that doesn’t endeavor to hide the artist’s hand.
“I prefer looking at sculpture or anything—paintings, drawings too—that show a little bit of the method and the process. Fine art isn’t about just copying as closely as you can. It’s about interpretation,” she says, remarking how looseness gives the viewer a window into a work’s creation.
Cat Call, bronze, 22 x 27 x 25”
York’s sculptures have been shown at the Smithsonian, Gilcrease and Booth museums, to name a few, but her practice has more humble origins. “When I was a little kid—you know, 6 years old—my dad would let me come down into his woodshop and he’d let me draw animals on boards,” York remembers. “I could cut them out on the jigsaw and then take a file and try and file them down so they became rounded,” she continues. “It really seemed to delight me, creating these little beings. Having a real affinity for animals in general, I guess that just dovetailed in with my enjoyment of reproducing things I love. I think the die was cast.”
Cocklebur and Catalina, bronze, 9 x 12 x 9” and 12 x 15 x 11”
“She’s been such a prolific artist and at this phase in her career, I would say that she’s really in her legacy phase,” says Campbell, who has been handling York’s work for nearly 30 years. “Her clientele and collector base is enormous. And it’s not only because her work is so fantastic, but her collections are so diverse,” says Campbell.
York’s canines and cats will be on view at Sorrel Sky July 7 to 30 with an artist reception the evening of July 7. —
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