GOING BIG
Deary Park Public art project
In January 2026, the Deary Recreation Foundation, Inc. and the City of Deary agreed to coordinate on a public art project for installation in the Rebekah Park at the corner of State Hwy 8 and Main Street in Deary, ID. The Latah Arts and Culture Committee, Potlatch-Deltic and the Deary Recreation District provided seed money and the work began. Shayne had the 20" completed bronze scaled up to half-life size (approximately 5 feet tall x 5 feet long) and he's been busy putting the details in clay. This will be the first piece cast at our new foundry, VALLEY BRONZE in Joseph, OR and we are excited to work with them.
The photo above is a mock-up of the park project using the current sculpture as a model.
LATEST PRESS
The Ruralite, the region's rural electric co-op magazine featured this project on their front page and as the featured article. We are very grateful to all the wonderful donors who are helping make this sculpture a reality for Deary, Idaho!
Read it here: RURALITE
Winter 2026 Article
Shayne and his Mr. Appaloosa sculpture were featured in the 2026 winter edition of the Appaloosa Journal.
Appaloosa horse sculpture background and inspiration
The artist and his family knew george personally.
George was a well-known figure around Deary Idaho, where Shayne resides. Shayne and George had a standing joke about one of George's long lost relatives getting in a shoot-out with one of Shayne's ancestors back in Colorado in 1869. (true story--look up the Hatley-Hartley feud!)
Shayne's wife Alane belonged to the Palouse Harness Club and participated in George's famous buggy and wagon rides around his Deary property.
George passed away in 2011 but in 2024, he'd have been 100 years old.
George knew appaloosas
Hatley and friend Harold Tibbs, were charter members of the Appaloosa Horse Club. Tibbs(forefront) had Toby I, a champion foundation stallion and George had a descendant, Toby II (in back) which became his champion stallion and the subject of the bronze. George was executive secretary of the Appaloosa Horse Club in Moscow for 31 years. He started the association's magazine, "Appaloosa News", published its first studbooks, implemented the first National Appaloosa Show and Sale in Lewiston, ID.
And had the miles to prove it!
He rode the 1,300-mile route of the Nez Perce War Trail twice and completed the 100-mile one-day Western States Trail Ride, or Tevis Cup, across the Sierra Nevada. He was a lifelong cattleman, summering in Deary and wintering on Alpowa Creek near Clarkston, WA. He enjoyed driving horses and collecting horse-drawn vehicles. His Deary ranch was available for the Pony Club and many other equestrian clubs and events. George also wrote "Horse Camping", a book well loved by back-country horse campers
With much input from the family....
Shayne had multiple conversations with George's widow Iola, who was a well known breeder of Appaloosa race horses. She and George had one stallion that won 22 races, and another that won 18 and went on to become an all-time leading sire of Appaloosa race horses.
George's son Craig Hatley has given Shayne permission to use George's likeness for the sculpture and approved the model, providing many photos of George in his youth.
and Many Studio Hours...
Shayne started this project in 2020 but the monumental Bengal tiger sculpture forced this one to the back burner. He finished the original wax sculpture spring of 2024.
The patina HAS the Spots and color of Toby II.
An interesting side note: When a veterinarian made a house call to the Hatley ranch in Moscow, ID, to care for Toby II, something startled the stallion and tragically, Toby II broke a leg and had to be put down. When the veterinarian broke the news to the stallion's owner, George insisted that the stallion's hide be skinned and tanned. The hide (shown in background here) was loaned to Shayne so he could match the the spots and color. No small feat since no color photos of Toby II exist.