This Month in Polo Players' Edition

Image Gallery

Choose an image: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Having highlighted polo and equestrian sporting art for the past two decades, there seemed to be only one word to best describe the artwork we have featured—Beauty. Over the years we have brought you sleek polo ponies, racehorses and steeplechase horses, hunters, jumpers, dressage horses and cow ponies. We have highlighted the hardworking draft horses, rodeo horses and fox hunters. They have been carefully painted, penciled, inked and sculpted by renowned artists and some relatively unknown artists.

Many of these artists are equestrians themselves, giving them a real connection with their subjects. Whether they ride Western, fox hunt, jump, do dressage, driving or play polo, they appreciate the athleticism, strength, willingness and dedication of their mounts. There are even some artists who have never sat on a horse but can still capture the motion and beauty in those four-legged beasts.
Each year we have chosen a theme for artists to capture. Themes have included Daring, All in a Day’s Work, Strength, and Action. We receive hundreds of pieces of art each year, which are painstakingly narrowed down to about 20. Those chosen are a cross-section of the varied types of equestrian sporting art and in several different forms.

Our 20th Annual Polo and Equestrian Sporting Art issue brings you the many examples of beauty in horses. JoAnn Mehl shows us the beauty in a mare with a foal by her side; Rod Skidmore captures the beauty in a jumper as it clears a sky high fence; Barbara Borck-Hart’s vivid colors capture a steeplechase horse in mid-air; Jean Barrow depicts the beauty in a polo pony waiting to play; and Rosemary Welch shows the beauty of a team of horses working in sync. No matter what discipline interests you, you are sure to enjoy these beautiful horses.

This year we are also highlighting an artist who is new to POLO Players’ Edition. Mickey Walters grew up loving horses and art, but it wasn’t until she took a few art classes with famed equestrian artist Sam Savitt that her true talent came to light. Walters expertly captures the beauty of a girl and her horse warming up, a polo pony in action as well as a horse lazily enjoying the outdoors
.
Savitt passed away several years ago, but what he once said sums it up best: “Horses are beauty, strength, rhythm and action. To really know and understand him, to capture his magnificence with pencil or brush, will to me be forever challenging.”

JUMPER WARM-UP, 2005
OIL
12 x 16

SCOTTSDALE POLO MEET, 2005
OIL
22 x 28

Born and raised in Arizona, Mickey Walters was strongly influenced by her rural surroundings and the Kansas farming background of her mother. Her family always had a dog, and as she was growing up she cared for and loved various pets and livestock. Her interest in animals eventually extended into Arizona’s natural inhabitants, such as the birds, rabbits, hares and coyotes living in the desert and the elk, antelope, squirrels, birds and deer that roamed the mountains. Still, her fiercest love was always horses.

Her parents gave her a donkey when she was 5, and she rode her all over town. She bought her first horse when she was 14 and has owned several since. According to Walters her current horse, Murphy, looks remarkably like her first—a small bay, retired thoroughbred racehorse. They have trained in dressage and jumping but now spend most of their time on the trails.

Parallel with her love of horses is her passion for art. Walters says she started drawing and painting long before she learned to write, with horses and other animals her specialty. She wasn’t able to find her place in art at college, with the courses aimed more toward abstract art. That all changed in 1995 when she discovered artist Sam Savitt was teaching at a local art school. Savitt, who died in 2000, is well-known around the world for his paintings, drawings and illustrations of horses. Walters took his workshop five times. According to Walters it helped loosen up her rusty skills, and she learned to draw horses from life. Since then she has studied hard and learned to paint in oil, from still life to portrait to plein air landscape and now finally back to horses.

She is represented by the Beresford Gallery in Unionville, Pennsylvania, and has affiliations with numerous artist groups. Her artwork has been exhibited a dozen times over the past few years.