It’s not hard to see where Christina Fisher gains inspiration for her artwork. You guessed it: horses. The 18-year-old from Alpharetta, Ga., splits her time between her family’s FoxCroft Farm and her high school art studio.
“Horses are my life,” she said. “They’re my main subject matter; they’ve always been a passion of mine and have influenced my life.”
When people see Fisher’s art, often displayed in her tack room, they immediately recognize her 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding All The Best, or “Cosmo,” with whom she competed last month at the Devon Horse Show (Pa.).
Fisher said that Cosmo is more like a loyal dog than a horse. “He would much rather be petted than ridden,” she said with a laugh.
Last year, Fisher and Cosmo earned the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Horse Of The Year reserve title in the large junior hunters, 16-17. She’s now graduated to the amateur-owners, training under Tim Sweat who teaches out of FoxCroft. She clinched the amateur-owner circuit championship at the Gulf Coast Winter Classic (Miss.) this winter.
Fisher’s interest in equestrian art began at a young age, as she often found herself scratching horse figures onto her paper during school.
“I used to doodle a lot and had a sketch book that I drew in from about fifth grade through middle school,” said Fisher, who also read “how-to” books on drawing equines.
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These days, however, she spends less time with a sketchbook and more time with a kiln.
“When I started high school I took some 3D classes and really enjoyed it,” she explained. “So I took art classes throughout high school, and last year I took Advanced Placement 3D Studio Art.”
One of Fisher’s most impressive pieces is life sized: a jumping horse made out of clay and mounted on wood that stands 5′ by 7′.
“I chose to break up the horse into sections and then put the piece together to form one cohesive piece,” she explained. “I made the pieces out of clay then let them dry. Once they were dried they were fired in the kiln, then a glaze was applied, and they were put in the kiln for a second time.” The whole process took about four months.
Equally striking is her wood relief displaying jumping horses with a contrasting horse in the center. This piece, which Fisher left untitled, involved carving each individual horse with a jigsaw and painting the figures before screwing them together in their particular arrangement.
Fisher plans to continue competing her horse and taking art classes as she begins Georgia Tech this fall.
