California Design 
26 September 2024
California Design 
236

Pamela Weir-Quiton

Kelso, the Rocking Horse

USA, 1967
wormy chestnut, walnut 49⅛ h × 41 w × 10½ d in (125 × 104 × 27 cm)
estimate: $8,000–12,000
result: $6,300
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This example is the first rocking horse created by the artist and was featured on the back cover of Olivia Newton-John's 1976 album Don't Stop Believin'.
Impressed signature, title and date to hind legs ‘Kelso PWQ 1967’.
provenance: Collection of Pamela Weir-Quiton
literature: "Adults Need Toys, Too," Los Angeles Times Home magazine, 28 November 1971, ppg. 20-21 illustrates this example

This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.

print
The present lot on the back cover of Olivia Newton-John's Don't Stop Believin' LP.
Image via Only Olivia.

"Since I had been using my doll image in ceramics, wood, and metal, I decided that I should make a wooden horse after making the ceramic one. And since it was made of wood, it could rock! I used the same designs for the scalloped mane and tail, the large eyes, and circle motif for cheeks and leg muscles. This was Kelso, named after my wood teacher, Ralph K. Evans. Kelso was a success, and with only a minor adjustment to the arc of the rockers, I made a series of rocking horses, rocking unicorns, rocking moose, rocking zebras and rocking race horses."

—Pamela Weir-Quiton

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