California Riding Magazine • September, 2008

Timi Saviers
Idaho painter and sculpture talks
about projects big and small.

Timi Saviers is having a great year. Her sculpture Repose received first place in the Washington Thoroughbred Foundation Equine Art Exhibition 2008. Her painting, Pirouette, an 11” x 14” oil on panel, has also been chosen for the 2009 poster for the Idaho Dressage Festival.
In past years, Timi’s work has won numerous awards in juried exhibitions across the U.S. and been chosen for commemorative and perpetual trophies for the European Dressage Championships, the North American Young Riders Championships, and the IALHA
National Championships.



In 1991, Timi was awarded a Masters Teaching Fellowship at Loyola Marymount University and continues teaching today in workshops around the U.S. Her next workshop will take place at the New England Equine Art Association in Vasselboro, Maine this October.
Idaho writer Chloe Jory spoke with Timi at the artist’s studio in Sun Valley, ID.

Chloe: What are you currently working on?

Timi: I am in the final stages of a life-sized bronze sculpture for Barb Ellison of her Holsteiner stallion Liocalyon. The piece will be installed at the entry to her Wild Turkey Farm in Oregon.

Chloe: How many pieces in this edition?

Timi: I have a few private and public horse facilities, and even a hotel, interested in this piece, but I believe we will keep it at three.

Chloe: Which of your sculptures is your favorite?

Timi: Over the years, Pirouette has been my signature piece. It’s the most classical piece in my body of work, has won several awards, is featured at the USDF Roemer Museum, at the Horse Park in La Mandria, Italy, and has been collected by the most “serious” art collectors.

Of course, the one I am currently working on is special to me. I am learning a lot from this big, galloping piece, as every movement a horse makes completely changes their form. As an artist, I really study the individual nuances of not only the different breeds and individuals, but moods and movements. I’ve been with horses since I was 4, and I am constantly seeing more and being amazed by their complexity as well as their beauty.

Chloe: And your favorite painting?

Timi: Well, over all, I guess I would say Surrey with a Fringe, a painting of two horses pulling a carriage. I like the atmosphere, the warm colors and the sense of space and peace. It also sold within five minutes of hanging it, and that feels great to know others see something special in my work.



Chloe: What is it like going from creating the 8” sculpture Repose, to an 8’ sculpture of Liocalyon?

Timi: It’s wonderful. I feel lucky to continue creating images of client’s horses, dogs and other pets in both paintings and sculpture. I love the small pieces as well as the large monuments. With a monumental sculpture in the works, I was tempted to take time off from riding to focus only on art.

I had qualified for the USDF Region 6 dressage finals and thought I would need to skip it to focus on the sculpture, but I found after a couple of weeks that I actually am a better artist when I ride almost every day. Grooming, sitting on the back of a horse, and watching other dressage riders keeps my perspective fresh and I can focus on the anatomical changes with the horse’s movement and take it straight to the sculpture. I am continually learning and I use that in my creating and my teaching.

Contact the artist at timiss@earthlink.net, 208-720-3149, or visit her website at www.belcavallo.com.