Sculptor and printmaker, Sandy Scott, feels very strongly for and about her subjects. A widely admired etcher of sporting scenes in the 1970s, Scott turned to sculpting in the early 1980s, focusing primarily on birds. Nearly three decades later, she has matured technically and artistically, moving adeptly between subjects wild and domestic, including keen-eyed eagles, sinuous trout, elegant dogs, robust pigs, powerful horses, exotic macaws and arrogant roosters. Today Scott is recognized as one of the country’s premier animal sculptors, interweaving, as Robin Salmon, curator of sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens, writes, "the continuing thread of the animalier in American art."

The book, Spirit of the Wild Things, published on the occasion of the Gilcrease Museum Rendezvous 1998, documents Scott’s career and artistic development. Sandy’s unique background has enabled her to capture the spirit of her subjects with a heartfelt vitality and technical skill. "With a father who is an outdoorsman, my love of the outdoors was cultivated at an early age," explains Sandy. "I’ve always loved to fish and I’ve backpacked and camped in some of this country’s most beautiful places." This lifestyle has left lasting impressions on Sandy, and it is this feeling of love for nature which radiates from her work.

Although at times she works from life, Sandy prefers the calm of the studio for her creative work. "But it is not feasible to stage a herd of elk or a gaggle of geese in my studio," she says, "so I rely on my field trips for inspiration. Much of my field work is done with a camera, and I have thousands of frames of 35mm film which provide a very valuable source of reference. I strive to retain in my work the feeling and emotion experienced while observing, sketching, and photographing in the field."