Hasta La Ideas

Mini anatomical sculptures from L.A.’s bronze addict

L.A.-based sculptor Anne Ricketts creates miniature pieces of art for the body and home. Twenty years ago, she started her career with clay sculptures, but quickly transferred to sculpting in foam, wax and clay before casting her pieces in bronze. “Casting in bronze is addictive,” she says. “The tactile sense of the metal is amazing, it’s cold and hard, yet as smooth as skin.”

A great deal of Ricketts’ work focuses on hearts, hands and feet, rendered in painstaking detail in sizes as small as one-inch high. The feet are arched or crossed, while the hands are clenched into fists, pointing or simply lying palm up. The impulse to pick up and and examine these minute masterpieces is irresistible, but Ricketts says that she started working in miniature as a cost-effective measure. “Bronze, especially with lost wax casting, is extremely labor-intensive and therefore expensive,” she says. “It was all I could afford to have cast.”

Recently, Ricketts began creating equally small bud vases and jewelry, based on textile patterns from the ’50s. Her strong, distinctive earrings and rings fit in perfectly with her design aesthetic—expressive, sensual and inexpensive. “I like the challenge of working so small,” she says. “I also like the idea of making sculpture that people can hold, and of course afford to buy.”

You can purchase Anne Ricketts tiny sculptures online from L.A.’s O.K. boutique or at Canoe in Portland, prices typically span $50-70.