Maureen's Molds

Maureen with some of her old molds

The plaster molds of Maureen's sculptures were another daunting task.  There was a mixture of very old and newer molds, and with many of Maureen's bird figures being life-size some molds were huge.  With only a few hours to sort through and choose either the sculpts that had never been seen before or any horses that still survived, they were then shipped across the country.  They were stored for 6 years until a few months ago, when I happened to read a blog post about some Hagen-Renaker mini mini horses.

Kristina Lucas Francis, an amazing commercial artist and potter who also specializes in equine art and sculptures, had posted about her research of an obscure subject on her Muddy Hoofprints blog titled Without a Leg to Stand On, involving Hagen-Renaker's mini mini horse family (barely an inch tall) sculpted by Maureen Love in the 1950s!  It was the start of an amazing set of coincidences there that finally convinced us she was the only person who could bring those old molds to life.  Maureen had been a wonderful mentor of Kristina's, would patiently look at and critique her teen-age drawings and sculptures, and had become Kristina's subject of much study and research.  She and her husband Paul Francis, who specializes in mold making and casting also, were the perfect combination of talent to handle the old fragile plaster molds and recast them for the project.

Dawn and Kristina with some of the molds

Paul Francis restoring some of the old molds

Share The Love, with the permission of the Maureen Love estate, will be creating new pieces from these old molds of Maureen Love sculptures - many which have never been seen before and some which were produced in very small numbers originally.  They will each be Limited Editions and come with Certificates of Authenticity.  It is our intention to try and do justice to Maureen's sculptures and style of decorating, but her way of using high fired stoneware clays she had dug herself and her individual detailing was of course unique to her but is our inspiration.