Have you ever shaped a piece of artwork out of a pile clay? It is magical, isn't it?! A familiar form appears as your hands squeeze, roll, pinch and so forth. What once was a lump of mud, becomes an expression of your ideas! Here is a story about someone who built a career shaping clay:

Did you know that the famous Daniel Boone statue seen at several Kentucky locations was sculpted by a woman?! It was Louisville's own Enid Yandell. This beautiful statue can be seen in Richmond, Kentucky at Eastern Kentucky University campus and another copy can be found guarding an entrance to Louisville's Cherokee Park.

Radical for her time, Yandell left her wealthy family's harsh, stern Victorian homestead and moved to Paris, France. In Paris she studied with the great sculptor August Rodin during the 1890s.

Against so many odds, Yandell built a successful career as a talented sculptor! In those days, women were thought unfit and too frail to be a sculptor of monuments. But, Enid fought against this prejudice and pursued a formal art education in Chicago and New York City. She practiced her craft, learning how to model an eye, foot, hand, again and again... each time her abilities improved.

But, sadly the Yandell family did not bask in her glory. Enid was thought to be a "family disgrace". Angrily, an Uncle explained why, "... she was the first woman of the Yandell name who ever earned a dollar herself"!

Sources:

Courier Journal. Marion, Porter. "This Girl Sculptor was of Uncommon Clay." February 9, 1941, page 10.

Louisville Times. Briney, Melville O. " Enid Yandell, Louisville's Gifted Bachelormaid" July 28, 1949, page 16.