Wild Horses and Burros Inspire!

Our second installment of “Inspire” features painter Karen McClain, award winning film-maker Stephanie Martin, musician and painter Melody Perez .

Moonlight Reflection by Karen McClain

Karen McClain:

From Karen’s website:

“The magic and drama of wild horses has inspired and motivated my art. I want to express the beauty, power and bonds that I see manifest in wild horses. The freedom, risk and challenge that is inherent in living wild in nature is reflected in my process of painting from life. It is not solely a painting of a horse, but a reflected communication of their experience and our journey.”

To view more from Karen go to her website at: http://karenmclain.com/ ~~~~

Official poster of the film “Wild Horses”

Stephanie Martin The power of film to both entertain and educate and as a result, move people into action, is what drives Stephanie’s work. Adding to a successful career as a Cinematographer, Stephanie recently completed the prestigious Directing Workshop for Women Program at the AFI where she directed her first short film, Wild Horses. Stephanie is currently developing a feature length script based on the short about the plight of wild horses in the Western United States.

The film has been screening at multiple festivals and has garnered Stephanie and her crew multiple awards. Visit the website at: http://www.wildhorsesthefilm.com/

Note from Laura Leigh: “I met Stephanie for the first time at Jackson Mountain. The roundup was in June, during foaling season. Multiple attempts to gain some sanity during the roundup failed and I filed litigation. Stephanie and her producer, Tara Tucker, provided declarations. We won against unjustified removals during foaling season.

The next time I saw Stephanie was at Owyhee, she was four months pregnant. What we witnessed included foals run to exhaustion, hotshots used inappropriately and horses run into barbed wire. I again filed litigation and Steph was a willing participant. We have won strong language to conduct in that suit that also challenges unjustified removals due to a lack of data. That case is still active. 

Steph also brought a rough cut of the film to Owyhee so that I could see it. I had given Stephanie a number of photos and video and info. Within the first ten minutes of the film my heart was racing and tears came from my eyes. This film does an incredible job of portraying what it is like to document a roundup.”

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painting by Melody Perez

Melody Perez “Inspired from the beginning of the first wild mustang I painted from a visit to the Sand Wash Basin in Colorado with many visits following to several states of our nations western rangelands that the wild mustang calls home. Using the arts, I reflect the beauty and the spirit of one of our nations most historic living legends, The American Mustang.”

Mustang Mansion hits the road

Melody is a musician, painter and advocate. Combining her passions she created the “Mustang Mansion” on wheels to take her passion to others. “The Mustang Mansion is a 1968 vintage ‘Red Dale’ RV. A great ‘billboard’ on wheels with murals painted on the entire exterior. The interior of this incredibly cute vintage RV is filled to capacity with everything ‘mustang’ from books, Dvd’s, Cd’s, cards, prints and novelty gifts, and most importantly, educational books and materials that share on the need to preserve and protect the remaining wild mustang herds on our public rangelands.”

painting by Melody Perez

To see more paintings and learn about her music visit her website: http://www.runninghorses.org/ ~~~

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Share your story of how our wild horses and burros have inspired you by emailing them to: wildhorseeducation@gmail.com with “Inspire” in the subject line.