Hay Artist Displays Latest Sculpture Of Bale-ah Twine In Pryor

One artist in Pryor has moved on from drawing and pastels to sculpting hay.

Lesa Ritchie displays her art outside of her home during the fall and leaves it up as long as she can.

"I just taught myself. I just figured it out," she said. "Started playing with hay and baling twine and just started figuring it out."

Lesa Ritchie uses hay on her 88-acre farm which allows her to be artistic.

"I just do it for fun. I thought it might be a good creative outlet. I used to do art all the time, and I don't have a lot of time, and I just thought hay would be something fun to do," Ritchie said.

This is the fifth sculpture she's done, and she makes a new one every year. 

She either plans weeks in advance or plans what she's doing the week of.

Her latest sculpture was planned in one week. 

"This one I had my friend on my heart, I just thought ooh how fun would it be to try to do something with hair on a hay sculpture," Ritchie said.

This sculpture is in honor of Lesa's friend, Ginger who recently retired as a hair stylist. 

"This is Bale-ah Twine," Ritchie introduces her latest sculpture. "She never has a bad hay day, and she definitely uses whole cans of hay spray to keep that big bouffant up that she has done at the bouffant barn by her beautician."

Lesa waits for all the hay to be removed from her field in September then she chooses the best bales. Every sculpture starts with a sketch, and it typically takes about 5 days to complete.

"My husband and I go around to all the hay bales that he's baled, and we decide which one will fit which ones best which one maybe suits the size, then he takes the tractor and sets them up for me and I start in on it," she said.

Bale-ah Twine will stay up as long as she can.

"I touch her up about once a week right, now she's full of water and needs to be touched up until she dries; she can't be touched up," Ritchie said.