Gail Jones Sundell
Cheyenne, WY
Gail Jones Sundell has expressed her creative passions through the medium of stone carving for five decades, with her work evolving to a combination of stylized and realistic figurative sculptures. While primarily self-taught, she has gained insights from sculptors who frequented her family’s business, Colorado Alabaster Supply.
Influenced by her father’s stories and by paintings of his early life growing up among the American Indians in Oklahoma, Gail was inspired to carve her own interpretations of American Indian folklore, mythology, and family life.
Gail says about her work, “One of my aspirations is to bring to life many of the wonderful stories and legends of various Native peoples, especially the American Indians. Their stories have such vivid imagery, and it is a joy to illustrate those stories in stone. I enjoy showing a feminine side of history and portraying relationships between mothers and children, and men and women. I aim to create sculptures that speak to the viewer and invite them to stop and listen to the stories that the sculpture has to share.”
Gail and her husband, Tom, live in Cheyenne, Wyoming where she enjoys a rewarding Western lifestyle. She has participated at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Western Art Show for the past 21 years and is involved with Frontier Days and other Western venues with her mounted parade and drill team.
The stones Gail brings to life have become personal treasures of private and corporate collections all over the world. Her work has received numerous awards including “Best of Show” in 2013 at the Cowgirl Up! exhibition and the “Purchase Award” in 2000 at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Western Art Show at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old Western Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She has participated in Cowgirl Up! since 2011.
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