January 25, 2019
Courtesy Thunderbird Artists
Featured artist Al Glann creates stunning steel and bronze horses
More than 125 juried fine artists from around the globe will line the banks of the Scottsdale Waterfront during Thunderbird Artists’ 8th Annual Waterfront Fine Art & Wine Festival taking place Friday through Sunday, February 8, 9 & 10, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 7135 E. Camelback Road in Scottsdale.
“The Scottsdale Waterfront provides a beautiful backdrop for artists to showcase and sell their paintings, sculptures, photography, jewelry and mixed media pieces,” Denise Colter, president of Thunderbird Artists, said. “Patrons enjoy meeting the artists, and they appreciate finding high-quality, original art at a variety of price points.”
Acclaimed sculptor Al Glann, the festival’s featured artist, is best known for his stylized bronze and steel horse sculptures.
“I love to create horses in action, a gestural three-dimensional drawing with metal,” Glann said. “I strive to capture the personality and spirit of horses, more than a specific realistic representation of one particular horse. I use negative space to define form and character, and I will exaggerate the shape to give it a sense of what I see it and feel it to be.”
An Ohio native, Glann didn’t find his calling until his senior year in high school.
“My school didn’t offer art classes, so I started taking night classes. From that point, I was hooked. I enrolled in the Columbus College of Art & Design and would stay up all night creating art,” Glann said.
At first, he focused on illustration and graphic design, working as a commercial artist for seven years. When he began teaching at the Columbus College of Art & Design, he began experimenting with wood and aluminum to create three-dimensional sculptures.
In the mid-1990s, Glann moved to Arizona and began teaching at the Art Institute of Phoenix. Around the same time, he began working exclusively with steel to create totems and figurative sculptures.
While he loved working with students, he took a leap of faith in 2010 and retired from his job to pursue his art full-time.
He moved to Tucson a year later, and he currently works from Metal Arts Village, a collaboration of artists in the city’s furniture and arts district.
While Glann sculpts buffalo, raven, hawks and other wildlife, his signature pieces are his horse sculptures.
“The horses were a fluke,” he said. “In 2008, an artist friend suggested we check out the Arabian horse show. I had grown up on a farm with horses around me, but I had never owned one. I was reminded of their beauty and I challenged myself to capture their expression and motion in 3D.”
Capturing the anatomy is critical, and he uses photo renderings to examine muscles, bones and structure.
“It’s very rewarding when a horse owner notices that I’ve captured the movement of a bucking or grazing horse correctly,” Glann said. “I’ve had people show me photos of their horses in the same pose, and I had one woman come up to me during a show and say, ‘my horse did that this morning.’ It’s a big compliment and a great way to connect with people.”
Throughout the three-day festival, patrons can take in live music and enjoy wine tastings, microbrews, and a variety of festival food. Admission to the Waterfront Fine Art & Wine Festival is $3 for adults, and free for children 17 years or younger. Parking is free all weekend. For information, call (480) 837-5637 or visit www.ThunderbirdArtists.com.
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