Wilbur

Again, the words of my mentors repeat, in silence, within my head, “Sculpt what you know.” While pondering my upbringing for artistic inspiration, I landed on a truth: “I know hogs!” While sculpting this piece, I had a grin on my face, as the memories kept comin’.

As a youth in FFA, I owned a couple of hogs. One was a Duroc gilt and the other a Poland China barrow. Dad had a couple of acres out in the country, north of McKinney, Texas, that was perfect to put up a hog pen. To get them muscled and ready to show, I’d pay my eight year old brother, P.J., a quarter to chase them around the yard. I ended up showing both hogs in the Collin County Fair…and in the shadow of “Big Tex” at The State Fair of Texas.

I’ve never been around animals, more than hogs, that flat out didn’t give a rip about anything but their own world. Laying in a wet mud hole and eating seemed to be their only cares in life. How I remember their muddy faces looking up at me when I’d come out to fill the feeder and check their water troughs. Here is one thing I know about hogs…if there is a weakness in a fence they will find it to their own demise.

When I decided upon names, I quickly landed on Opal & George (after my mother's parents). When I told my grandparents I’d named my hogs after them, Moma Opal quickly retorted, “Make sure you have a pink corsage on her when you’re frying her in the pan.”

Note: One of my teachers said, “Find the beauty in a week old discarded banana peel at the bottom of a trash can…in a filthy alley.” There was a ‘click’ inside me when I heard those words. “I got it.”