Jolene lives with her husband in the Okanogan Valley of north central Washington. They have a small farm with their American Saddlebred horses, dogs, cats and a variety of wildlife passing through daily. Jolene has always loved animals and her horses inspired her sculpture from the very beginning. With no formal art training, Jolene taught herself in 1996 how to create wire sculptures.

She creates her sculptures using black tie wire or copper wire for sculptures that range from 12 to 36 inches high and 9 gauge steel construction wire for larger sculptures 3 to 6 feet tall. Her tie wire sculptures range from free standing without a base or mounted on a stone or wood base or to being wall mounted. The smaller sculptures (also called ornaments) are made with colored craft wire, glass bead embellishments and a wire hanger to display them with. Jolene’s smaller sculptures started out as Christmas ornaments and are 5 to 8 inches tall, not including the hanger. Because of their popularity, she now has these available year round in a variety of colors. In 2006, she added beaded wire horse head lapel pins to her list of sculptures. The pins were a collaboration of ideas with her friend, Janet Quinn and are available online exclusively through Janet’s website at www.crownjewelsdesign.com. Jolene specializes in horses but will create other animal sculptures at the request of her customers or for gallery shows.

The notoriety of Jolene’s work now keeps her busy year around creating special orders for individuals, art galleries and equine related businesses. In 2002, one of Jolene’s horse sculptures won best of show at the Washington State Grange Convention. Most recently, she submitted a sculpture to the Equine Art 2007 show at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington. This show is presented by the Washington Thoroughbred Foundation in conjunction with the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association and Emerald Downs. Jolene’s “Big Red” horse sculpture was awarded First Place in the sculpture division. Because she believes in the importance of sharing for the future, she also donates one or two sculptures a year to various charity auction events.

Jolene is a proud member of Wire Sculpture International, a worldwide guild of wire sculptors. To learn more about wire sculpture and other members of Wire Sculpture International, please visit Elizabeth Berrien’s wonderful website at www.wirelady.com .