There is something special about a work of art deeply rooted in history. It’s a feeling when you see the piece; thinking of the life it has lived and what it went through before it has reached you.
Recently our team was introduced to two sculptures with a story that goes like this…
“Leora ‘Edith’ Buckner Edwards was my late husband Jerome's grandmother. She was a lovely, intelligent woman with many talents. She painted in oils and played the piano. She sewed her own clothes, kept a garden and canned a lot of peaches. Grandmother Edith spent the early morning hours cross pollinating her hundreds of day lilies, hoping to develop an original flower. She was fascinated with genealogy and traced her and her husband's family lines back to their roots in England. She served many years as an active member in the DAR. Whenever she met someone new, she would try to determine if they were related or if they qualified for membership. Edith's sisters were also artistically talented and when her sister Grace got interested in ceramics and creating dolls in the 1940s and 50s, Edith decided she would try her hand at that skill as well. This is not surprising, since they had grown up being very competitive. When Edith moved into a nursing home, her grandchildren got together to clean the ranch home that she had lived in for years. The two doll heads were packed in a rotted cardboard box in what was called the milk shed. Edith and her husband, JW Edwards, had for many years sold milk, butter and cream in San Antonio, about 40 miles from their ranch in Pipe Creek. None of the other family members wanted the heads. Admittedly, they were covered with chicken poop and mud dauber nests and didn't look too good. But I thought they were simply awesome, and was delighted to take them home. Edith told me that she had dug clay out of the banks of the creek on the ranch and worked it until she was able to fashion the heads. Unfortunately, she had no way to fire them, so they remained in their unfinished clay state for many years. After I carefully cleaned the heads, I poured plaster of paris inside of them to make them less fragile and attached them to wooden bases. I was always afraid that they would get knocked over and broken. I am so excited to have these wonderful heads bronzed and can't wait to show them to the rest of the family. I loved my grandmother-in-law and these bring back so many wonderful memories of her every time I see them.”
-Carolyn B. Edwards
Taking the doll heads through The Lost Wax Process has been so fulfilling. Their history is so rich and has been taken further, going through multiple mediums, reaching their bronze state.
We are thankful to the Edwards family for entrusting our team with their nearly 90 year old sculptures, and being able to give them a fresh, well preserved life in bronze.
Click here for a closer look at the Doll Heads by Leora "Edith" Buckner Edwards through The Lost Wax Process at Hefestus Fine Arts.