Southern California woodworker Pamela Weir-Quiton has been making what she calls functional wood sculpture since the 1960s. LA Modern has this rocking horse of hers from 1972 in their upcoming auction October 17th. It looks a little side-tipsy to me, to be honest, but if it really goes for the estimate of $2,500-3,500, you probably won't let the kid near it anyway.
[For your budget rocking needs, then, stick with Lot 104, the vintage Creative Playthings Rocking Beauty rocker by Gloria Caranica. Time was when one of these hobby horses would bring $1,200-1,500, but the DWR knockoff sort of kicked the chair out from under the vintage market a few years ago. This one's estimated at just $200-300.]
But back to Weir. She began making modern-style figuratively shaped chairs in the late 1960s, which led to her first commission, for The Family (1968), an 8-foot-tall play sculpture designed for a bank lobby in Santa Ana. The sculpture was rediscovered last year and exhibited at the LA Modernism show:
Weir-Quiton's stuff is a nice mixture of crafty and macho, sleek and rustic. It has a pretty distinctive graphic flavor to it, which, though not really my thing, is kind of interesting.
Lot 402: Pamela Weir rocking horse, 1972 [lamodern]
Lot 104: Creative Playthings rocking horse, around 1962 [lamodern]
1972 Pamela Weir-Quiton elephant-shaped, wooden file cabinet, $9500 [modernegallery via 1stdibs]
