Akira Blount (American/Tennessee, 1945 - 2013) folk art soft sculpture titled "Joy Ride" and constructed of mixed media elements including paint, leather, fabric, wood, twigs, straw, and paper mache. A woman sits atop a silver horse on a wheeled platform and holds a bird's nest that contains a pear. A blackbird sits on her hair and a similar nest and blackbird rests on the platform below. Signed and dated 2010 on the underside. 25 in. H x 16 in. D x 10 in. W. Note: Akira Blount was born in 1945 and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. She continued her education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Art Education. She started making dolls from cotton stockings in 1970 and they quickly evolved into a steady source of income. Over the next nine years her mastery of needle sculpting evolved into a style well known as her own. In 1979 she moved to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee with her family. Her work has been profiled in over 30 magazines and her soft sculptures can be found in the Musee des Artes Decorative in Paris; the Musee de Pouppes, Josselin, France; the Sekiguchi doll Garden, Japan; and the Tennessee State Museum. Exhibitions include the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC, American Folk Art Museum, NYC, NY, Mint Museum of Fine Art, Charlotte, NC, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, Tampa Museum of Fine Art, Tampa, FL. The White House Collection of American Craft,

Overall very good condition with some minor grime and dust. 

The estates of Walter and Dr. Mary Schatz, Nashville.