Best of 2001: Best Animal Faucet Sculptor

Célou Bonnet c/o Artworks of Fallbrook Foundry
300 East Alvarado, Fallbrook
760-731-2732 or 760-731-5972
www.celoubonnet.com

Célou Bonnet started creating this functional art almost accidentally when an advertising executive commissioned one for his new beach house. Bonnet is a thoroughbred horse trainer and rider from France who has reinvented herself in America as a self-taught sculptor. "In America, everybody gives you a chance," she says. She started off sculpting her beloved horses but now branches out to other animals: monkeys, antelopes, gorillas, safari animals -- as disguised faucets, if you like. She casts her works in bronze at the Artworks of Fallbrook's foundry. In 1999 the Artworks organization named her "Artist of the Year." But before you lift that phone, there's the little question of money. Think $10,000 per faucet creation.