The words GATEWAY TO HORSES came to me in a dream one summer night. I had no idea of their meaning.

Later in the summer, as I was sitting in my backyard, the concept of a door surround came clearly to mind. I grabbed my sketchbook and drew a rough sketch.

Horses came charging out of the frieze above the door.

Creating, drying, firing and installing GATEWAY TO HORSES took about 3 months.

Laying out the frieze which I built up in relief. My sketch sits above the clay and serves as a rough guide.

I mixed a custom clay for this project to withstand warping from the drying and firing process.

The clay also is highly resistant to freeze/thaw problems.

The border to the frieze was extruded. The horses seemed to take on a life of their own as they emerged from the clay...

The ANCHOR X brand in the left corner is the cow brand for the ranch. The brand on the right corner is their horse brand.

Creating the side panels all in one piece.

When leather-hard they were cut into individual tiles.

The bas relief design is a horse as seen from the top.

Each horse is bent around as in a dressage training circle.

The horses alternate in direction to create a rhythmic pattern - similar to the pattern created by the horses' strides.

The border down the sides was extruded. A red clay slip was applied while the piece was still wet.

(Slip is a liquid clay that becomes a colored glaze in the salt firing.)

The finished frieze with slip applied to top border...

A layer of cloth followed by seven layers of plastic are placed over the piece so that it will dry slowly. (The cloth is changed periodically as it becomes damp.)

When quite leather hard, I cut the frieze free-hand into individual tiles.

The drying process takes about 6 weeks.