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By: Dennis Robbins Alice Marlatt is well known for her work in agriculture, her sculptures and her very creative and whimsical door knockers. In fact, it was through her efforts that a Fine Arts division is now included at the Fremont County Fair in Riverton, Wyoming. Alice was one of the first artists that this writer met when I first moved to Riverton, originally coming from the cattle country of Western Montana. It was, at first, difficult to believe such a delightful and talented person could actually raise sheep Alice stared combining sheep herding and sculpture when she was about five years of age. While she and her brother were herding, there was a nice water hole with (as she puts it) good mud and she started molding that clay into various shapes and drying them in the sun. After spending many years of learning sculpture through the trial and error method, Alice enrolled at Central Wyoming College in 1981 and took her first formal classes in sculpture. As one might expect, after years of herding and owning sheep, they initially became the primary subjects of her sculptural output. Currently, you are just as likely to find her sculpting hummingbirds, horses and flowers as well as rams and ewes, be they Bighorn or domestic. In addition, over the past few years, she has sculpted the medallions for the Riverton National Art Show. For many years, Alice's efforts to find volunteers to hang and man the show as well as people to judge the artwork kept the Fine Arts Division at the Fremont County Fair going and has turned it into the successful endeavor it is today. Alice has been President of the Riverton Artists Guild many times as well as President of the Wyoming Artists Association. A few years ago, Alice won two very prestigious awards. In 2002, she was recognized by the Wyoming Artists Association as the 2002 Grand Wyoming Artist and in 2004, she was recognized locally as the 2004 Fremont County Ag Woman of the Year. Artistically, the awards that she cherishes the most are her People's Choice awards from various shows and being chosen Grand Wyoming Artist in 2002. Alice was born in Riverton and the house in which she was born is still standing. Her family left Riverton when she was a year old and headed to Colorado where she had her first experiences with sculpting and herding sheep. They returned to Riverton when Alice was in the third grade and she has resided in the area to this day. Alice and her husband Bill reside a new miles north of Riverton and on June 19th celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. In addition to raising sheep, the two of them have traveled the art fair and show scene as Alice promoted her sculpture, with Bill setting up and taking down the booth, and Alice manning the booth during each event. The two of them retired a couple years ago. Alice was one of 20 artisans chosen to represent the state of Wyoming on QVC. Two of her sundials were named official Wyoming Centennial Pieces.Thermopolis, Wyoming commissioned Alice to do the bronze relief around their flagpole for their town's centennial project. Many of Alice's pieces are not only works of art, but are functional as well.These pieces include such works as: sundials, bookends, clocks, fountains and doorknockers.She has also created bronze relief for entryways, gardens and headstones. |
Shoshone Papoose
All of Alice's pieces,
unless otherwise noted, are signed, numbered,
limited edition. Click on small images for more information and to view a larger version.
On The Alert
Learning From The Master
Maude and Mate
Moose Head
Sheep Head
Deer Head
Antelope Head
Elk Head
Cowboy Door Knocker
Fall Berries
Giver of Life
Humming Bird
Bowl Made from Hollowed Out Goard and Decorated
Jewelry
Alice's sculptures are found in several
galleries in the west.
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