A Look at the Creative Process and What Makes an Artist Tick

The upturned snout, snotty, sarcastic expression and defiant stance of sculptor Anne Arnold’s Wall Pig, speak volumes about the artist’s ability to imbue her work with the character of the animals that were her beloved subjects. Arnolds, a sculptor and educator, died in 2014. The emotion that radiates from the sculpture is reminiscent of how Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web must have felt, when his spider friend described him as “Some Pig” in an effort to save him from slaughter. It also shows the depth of an artist’s connection with her source material—from which her final works were created. “She really got the character of this pig!” says Mary Savig, curator of manuscripts for the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. Savig put together the exhibition, “Finding: Source Material in the Archives of American Art,” which examines the way that different artists use source material as inspiration for their creations.