Anita Watts sculptor of bronze sculpture commissions: Children | Bronze Portraiture | Memorials | Historical Figurative Subjects | Canine | Equine | Arabian Horses
Biography

Early Influences - My deepest gratitude goes to:

1. My parents, who gave me the expectation that "all things are possible through God who leads us" and gently nurtured what has become a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2. My grandfather, who set ablaze my lifetime devotion to horses… from that first ride atop his Percheron work team, to the day he gave me my first pony, and still later helped me buy my first riding horse.

3. My teachers, especially two sculpture professors, Robert Koepnick and Jim Killy, who inspired my passion for bronze sculpture.

Formal Education and Work Experience:

My earliest training began at The Art Academy of Cincinnati; from there I enrolled at The Dayton Art Institute, graduating Cum Laude with a major in Sculpture and a minor in Illustration.

For the first three years after art school I worked in Commercial Illustration for Rike's in Dayton. The following three years brought about an interesting job sculpting Ozark figures in cedar for the Woodcarver's Guild at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.

While in Missouri I completed my BFA at Southwest Missouri State and decided to return to Ohio to attend Miami University where I received my MFA with a concentration in Sculpture and Art Education certification.

My desire to instruct and encourage young artists was fulfilled by teaching High School Art. I was fortunate to teach under some very progressive principals where excellence was encouraged in the art program. I was enabled to teach college level skills in drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture to 3000 students during a thirty year period. My advanced 3rd and 4th year students were able to enroll in many specialized classes like Computer Graphics, Air Brush, Potter's Wheel, Lost Wax Casting via a Kerr Centrifugal Casting Machine, Jewelry Design, and skills in Oxygen Acetylene welding and, of course, Advanced Sculpture. Many of my former students have gone into very successful art careers. I am extremely proud to have contributed to their creativity and love of art, but the ones that touch me deepest are the students who have let me know that they made good moral choices due to the open discussions and sharing of faith in the art room.

I am now able to devote all of my time and energy to my passion for Bronze Sculpture, a truly magnificent art medium, created in the ancient tradition of Lost Wax. My studio, AJ ArtWorks, is located on 140 acres of land that my great-grandfather purchased in 1886. Later, my grandfather raised his family here, and still later I took my "first ride" here. How fitting that this same land now contains my sculpture studio.

"Professional Memberships"
The National Sculpture Society
OAC The Ohio Arts Council
The Sculpture Center
The Dayton Art Institute
The Preble Co Art Association