Steve Kestrel grew up in New Mexico, raising and training quarter horses. He resides with his wife, Cindi, on a 62-acre “wildlife preserve” in Colorado’s Redstone Canyon.
He won the James Earl Fraser Sculpture Award in 2019 & 2017 & the Prix de West Purchase Award in 2013 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Gold Medal for Sculpture -‘The West Select’- 2011, 2012 & 2013 at the Phoenix Art Museum
Artists Choice Award- 2017, Featured Artist- 2011, ‘Best of Show’- 2005 & 2008 - at the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale
Purchase Award,‘ Night of Artists Show’- 2013 at the Briscoe Art Museum
People’s Choice Award- 2007 & Red Smith Award- 2008 at the National Museum of Wildlife Art
Click on the images below to view Steve Kestrel's artwork available for sale at this year's show.
Rock Squirrel Nestingstone
Mourning Stretch (two doves)
Pondhawks At Waterline
Monument for the Last Horned Lizard
I wanted to carve this rock squirrel nest with a new twist, the goal being a sculpture that was whimsical, but with a dash of 'head scratching' mystery. I had seen several stone carvings by a Spanish artist, Jose Manuel Castro Lopez..... he has developed this technical 'sleight of hand' with stone & they are beautifully simple & intriguing. But the gist of his work was mainly about fooling the viewers eye....making the stone look as if it had just been softened, cut & peeled back.... and that's it. I wanted to go further with the idea & interject animal figures underneath the lid of the stone, so I experimented with a carving last December that had a mouse nest under the lid of the stone, which I gave to my wife, Cindi, for her birthday present. So if I've succeeded, there will hopefully be some 'head scratching' when viewers encounter Rock Squirrel Nestingstone.
© 2020 National Museum of Wildlife Art. All rights reserved.
