February – A Celebration of Artistry

Welcome back, readers! In this first installment of the History series, we’re shining a spotlight on the fundamental core of the Stone brand – the many ways that hobby artists have partnered and collaborated on Stone models over the years. Artistry and innovation brought the company from its earliest days to where we are today.

From day 1, Stone embraced the network of talented hobby sculptors in our community! Around the same time as Stone’s founding, artist resin sculptures were growing in popularity, and NAMHSA’s NAN first took place the year prior (1995). The 1990’s were a major decade for hobby innovation, with the bars for artistry and realism both steadily rising. Stone was well-positioned to make a splash in the community with the capacity to follow these trends from their beginnings. Stone has featured the sculpt work of at least a dozen artists over the years, with some of the most frequent partnerships being with Kitty Cantrell, D’Arry Jone Frank, and most recently, Maggie Jenner-Bennett.

Collaboration on finish work has also been a top priority for the brand throughout Stone history. D’Arry worked closely with Stone starting in the earliest years to develop color techniques. Other well-respected hobby artists, including Laurie Jo Jensen, Karen Gearhardt, Ed Gonzales, Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig, and Thomas Bainbridge also provided early support for painting development.

Despite the brand’s early interest in commercial distribution of products, especially for the first 10-15 years, there were always editions and programs focused on serving the collector market directly. With the collaborations with their early guest artists, Stone quickly gained notoriety within the hobby as a source of high-quality model horses. As a result, numerous series were introduced to serve collectors, including partnerships with live events, the Show Line, and retailer-specific special runs. Two of the most iconic early direct-to-customer programs that celebrated artists were the Artisan Hall and Signature Series.

In 1997, the Artisan Hall program was introduced. AH featured entire runs (typically around 200 in total run count) painted by the featured artist themselves. Some of these runs included variations in finish, color, customization, or a combination, and always stated these amounts within the overall edition. The program continued through 2010.

A shorter-lived program, the Signature Series offered editions from 2001-2006. This series featured paint work designed by guest artists, but the actual paint work minus prototypes was done by Stone employees. Each model featured a sticker of the designing artist’s signature on the belly. While editions of 500 were common for this series, some of these were split in half with two variations (usually finish or customization) and other editions were smaller & no variation (some as low in count as 100).

The Signature Series, originally advertised under the “Stone Horses Direct” label in EQUILITH, Winter 2000.

The guest artist trend continued into the 2010’s and beyond. Dozens of notable artists including mainstays Sheryl Leisure and Caroline Boydston have created small groups of models over short work sessions for Stone that are released as part of certain promotions, or sold via Best Offers or Auctions. With Volo Artem from 2024 and forward, the Guest Artist program has expanded considerably, offering the chance to create Original Finish Art to even more talented artists. Kylee Parks, Kristen Cermele, Tiffany Purdy, Amanda Brock, Heather Bullach, Vincent Lange, Carly Kudalis, Mindy Berg, Erika Isbell, Tegan Davis, Stephanie Blaylock, Kirsten Wellman, Missy Shaw, and more have all created works of art through our Stone Horses processes, and all were able to retain their personal artistic style even through materials that are totally different than mediums they use at home.  Guest artists travel to Stone throughout the year for short stays (usually around a week at a time) to create batches of pieces. Guest artists provide a variety of artistic perspectives to customers and help to support & inspire the full-time artists as everyone learns from each other.

One of the most unique aspects of the Stone brand is how they welcome the average community member to participate in the artistic process! This began with programs like the My Horse Series, You Call It and You Color It, which paved the way for the Design A Horse and more recently, Design A Horse Platinum programs. In the past, Stone has offered Paint Your Own Test (PYO) and Horse Camp workshop opportunities during County Fair.

Copy of the 2004 Horse Camp flyer & order form!

As we reflect on 30 years of the Stone brand, let us first and foremost say a heartfelt THANK YOU to every artist, every creative mind behind our beloved models! Without this focus on collaboration and celebration of the artistic spirit, we would not be where we are today.