The Other Side of Marrita Black- Home Décor For the Horse Lover

By: Brittany Bevis

Whether they know it or not, many a horse show veteran has at least one or two Marrita Black masterpieces adorning their fireplace mantle or tack room display case. Best known for her impressive equine bronzes, Black is the artist that created the oversized “Legacy Of Color” sculpture that stands outside the American Paint Horse Association headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Most recently, she was commissioned to create the Liz Haverty Memorial Trophy that will be awarded at the NRHA Derby to the highest scoring Limited Non Pro rider during the first go of competition.

For years, Black’s artistic pieces have served as horse show awards for many clubs and breed associations across the country. Now, there is a way her fans can score a coveted carving, without having to win a prestigious class, with her line of affordable equine-themed home décor.

“It’s a fun challenge to see how I can incorporate a horse into the design of a lamp, mirror, or other home décor,” Black says. “I especially like art that can be used. While traveling in Europe, I would see extravagant fountains and decorations that will not fit into modern homes, but they are inspiration for ‘sized down’ home décor.”

Now that she’s fully established as a master of equine bronzes, Black chose to take a different direction with her home décor line, which is made entirely out of resin. While this more inexpensive material allows Black to pass savings on to her customer, there are some complications involved.

“The process of getting a product produced is time consuming and keeps me from bringing some of my ideas to fruition,” she says. “In my high end bronze line, production is much less complicated but much more expensive. I love the resin home décor line. It’s so affordable, and one can have this in their home.”

“Working with the manufacturer of the resin is more difficult. The quality control, color finishes, packaging, and importing by the container load makes resin production a challenge. But, for the product I get, it’s worth it.”

Some of our favorite home décor items include her Horse Head Corbels, Horse Head Fountain, and elaborate Horse Head Entrance Gate. Right now, Black says the Horse Head Corbels, which can be used as decorative sconces alongside crown molding of her own design, are her favorite.

“Ideas come from everywhere. I have more than I can probably ever finish,” she says.

What’s interesting is that Marrita, Inc. might not have existed at all if it weren’t for a strike of inspiration during a chance trip to Santa Fe. Throughout high school and college, Black loved art, figurative art in particular. However, her medium of choice wasn’t popular at the time. Due to the decline in interest, she decided to get a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science and continued on her track of showing horses.

Since the age of 15, Black has ridden and shown many different breeds including Appaloosas, Arabians, and Quarter Horses. By the time she was 20, she began charging customers to ride their horses.

“For many years, I showed mainly in performance classes,” she says. “Of course, back then, some of my performance horses were good enough to show in halter first, before putting the saddle on. Eventually, I started showing more halter. I won classes both at the Quarter Horse Congress and the AQHA World Show. I’ve only shown in the open [division], because, from the start, I’ve shown horses that belonged to other people.”

“Today, I’m still around horses, but not professionally, My husband, Bob Black, and I have three horses. He enjoys showing in team roping.”

Around her 40th birthday, Black decided it was time to dust off her artist’s smock and dabble in clay sculpture.

“A trip to Santa Fe with a horse friend made me aware that sculpting horses might be interesting,” she says. “I noticed on that trip that most of the horse sculptures depicted the horse of the cowboy and Indian from 100 years ago. My goal was to create sculptures that immortalized the modern horse.”

In the years since, Black has used her skills to capture the likenesses of many modern-day horses like Rugged Lark, Sierra Te, Mr. Conclusion, Causin Confusion, Sheza Perfect Clu, The Last Detail, and many more.

What can we expect next from the ambitious Marrita Black? We’ve been told that she has a large horse bust that will debut at the WESA Trade Show in Denver, September 6-7. She’s also working on a tribute to her favorite canine breed.

“I’m working on three Chinese crested dogs,” she says. “They are in a picture frame. Three are sitting or standing calmly, and one wild one is jumping out of frame toward the viewer.”

If you’d like to find out more about Marrita Inc., click here to visit her website and here to visit her Facebook page.