When I stop and close my eyes, I know the high heel is identical to the feminine form. Just close your eyes and cup your hands around the back of the heel. Slowly slide your hands from the heel, her shoulders, down along the sides of the shoe, her body. Experience the leather curving in and under then flaring back out, her hips. Allow your thumb to slide over the front of the shoe as your hand moves toward and around her toe. It, she, is all woman.
― WLN
White Tiger
Shoe, Size 39 1/2
White Alabaster (Colorado)
8.5" x 3.5" x 9"
Finished, 2015
Pam got a pair of white high heels that were so gorgeous and sexy. I hadn't carved in quite sometime. I saw a piece of stone sitting around that seemed just the right size. The rest is history.
― WLN
Lava Flow
Shoe, size 36 1/2
Orange Alabaster (Utah)
9.5" x 3.25" x 7"
Finished, 2015
I took White Tiger to Neiman Marcus and showed her to the sales associate. The general manager of the store came to see the sculpture. She then asked if I would be willing to show my sculptures at their shoe and handbag event. I needed to have a second shoe. The orange fire hot lava began to flow.
― WLN
Shoe No. 3
White Alabaster (Colorado)
3” x 8” x 7”
2016
Here’s a video of the process of Shoe No. 3:
Glass Slipper
Translucent Alabaster (Italy)
8” x 3.5” x 6.5”
2017
WLN Design
Grey Alabaster (Colorado)
9” x 3.5” x 6”
2017
Here’s a video of the process of WLN Design:
Carving Air
Grey Alabaster (Colorado)
9.5” x 4” x 9”
2018
Here’s a video of the process of Carving Air:
Shoe No. 7
Raspberry Alabaster
9.5” x 3” x 7”
2019
Society 2019
Sculptural Assemblage ( Carving Air and Shoe No. 7 )
24” x 16” x 8”
2019
Honorable Mention Award, Wisconsin Regional Art Program Show, 2019
Boot In or Out
Pink Alabaster (Colorado)
9” x 4” x 10.5”
2020
State Award, Wisconsin Regional Art Program (2020)
Shoe Shopping
Sculptural Assemblage ( Shoe Box, Tissue Paper, and Lava Flow )
Shoe Box
Box and Cover: Limestone (Indiana)
12” x 8.5” x 1.5”
Tissue Paper: Pink Alabaster (Colorado)
11.5” x 9” x .5”
2020
“The shoes are pure genius.”
DJ Garrity is a world-renowned portrait sculptor and the author of "Rhythms in Stone." www.djgarrity.com
Notes on the Nettelhorst Shoe Sculptures
by Jeff Dengler
What are we to make of this vision of a stone high heel shoe? This recalls the 20th century use of common objects as sculpture, from the Dadaist-Surrealists of the twenties and thirties, to Claes Oldenburg and the sixties pop art scene. On closer examination, one is struck by the almost naked sensuality of the lines and forms, as though looking at a polished cult statue of a goddess, the flowing alabaster almost breathes.
But this is not a woman, but an object said to be the cruelest of modern devices for the sexual objectification of women! We may feel uneasy that such seemingly un-liberated footwear should be elevated to the pedestal of Art.
We may find ourselves contemplating the social/political implications of this subject matter. Decades after women started to liberate themselves they still buy these shoes. High heels may have been created as a pedestal to display the teetering feminine, but strong women have reclaimed them as a platform from which they shall rule!
Finally, the models for these art pieces are "haute couture" of the very finest design and craftsmanship. This pinnacle of fashion is one of the criterion of a high civilization. No empire or epoch can hold itself completely superior in its material culture without a manifestation (however uncomfortable) of the exquisite.
Mr. Nettelhorst has recognized and materialized an expression of the human yearning to create the sublime.