Hey, Mom! portrays my favorite draft breed, the Percheron. Mom is my idea of a retired hitch mare, sort of gone to seed, with her cocky stud colt Mom's Boy talking to her. Winner of the EAG Sculpture Award and several other awards, this is arguably my most popular piece. They seem to bring a smile wherever they go.

Hey, Mom! began as a request for another mare/foal piece such as the Polymer Clay commission Rhapsody and Finale (see Polyform gallery). Mom was supposed to be an Arabian mare and lying down, but in the one night during which she was nearly done she turned herself into a standing Percheron mare and her story was firm in my mind. I see her as a somewhat seedy retired hitch mare with grown out mane, tail, and hooves, but what she does have is her showy colt Mom’s Boy.

When I couldn’t decided where to place Mom’s Boy in relation to his Mom, and the feeling of the pair changed with where I place him, I decided to cast them separately.

So far only one client, an elderly lady who feared she might knock them over, has had the piece mounted on a base. This is the position she chose, and we mounted it on a walnut and marble base.

Mom was built with a adjustable diagonal armature because the idea was to get her proportions right and then lie her down. The black thing and nut at the top of the picture allow the long block angled down into Mom’s side to be lowered on the upright bolt. Mom’s Boy was sculpted without an external armature

Mom and Mom’s Boy in the clay ready to go to the foundry. Once sculpted Mom’s twisted aluminum wire skeleton was sufficient to hold her for transport to the foundry.

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