Venue opening features equine sculptures by artist Della Wood

High in the sky, wisps of clouds pecked the blue expanse. Della Wood looked up and explained the name of this natural phenomenon, Mare’s tails.

This type of cloud served as inspiration for Wood’s most recent series of clay work.

The Venue Fine Art and Gifts organized the Friday opening of “The Art of the Horse,” which featured Wood’s sculptures. The exhibit will be displayed until Thursday.

The pieces in the exhibit share common motifs, such as clouds and horses.

“They’re not the horse as a domesticated farm animal,” Venue owner David Colman said. “They’re more the horse as an energized racehorse, running animal.”

Horses have been a consistent presence throughout Wood’s life. Growing up, Wood and her family raised Appaloosas.

After she met her husband in Florida, the two lived what she described as the “typical ranch life” in Colorado. They now live in Nashville, Ind., and frequently travel to Hawaii, but the horses remain present in Wood’s artistic work.

Draping cascades of terracotta clay flecked with equine imagery make up each sculpture. Various natural hues color the flowing forms.

The plethora of places Wood has lived are incorporated in the series.

“People ask me before, ‘How long does it take you to make a piece?’ and I say, ‘a lifetime,’” Wood said, “Because it really is all that I’ve experienced coming out in the pieces. It’s the energy in me, and that comes from the places you’ve lived and the people you’ve met.”

Wood has had time to develop both these experiences and her artistic technique. Her mother, Martha Mills, graduated from the Herron School of Art and Design and taught art classes.

“Della worked with clay from the time she was 12 years or younger,” Mills said. “So her indoctrination into clay started very early.”

Wood recounted outings digging up clay for pieces with her mother. It is with this clay that she started to cultivate a career of creativity.

“Its very unusual work, and we like to show unusual things,“ Colman said. “She’s multitalented.”