Sculpting stories: Mother and daughter’s book sculptures headed to South Lake Tahoe
awhitney@tahoedailytribune.com

Courtesy / Andrew Hess |
Rachael Lambin is an artist, and has been for quite some time. Her specialty? Sculptures.
“I laugh, because when she was born — I know this sounds cliché, but it was almost like she was born with a pen and paper in hand. She’s always been very artistic, and a lot of things she’s done have been related to art,” Lambin’s mother, Debbie, said.
Together, the mother-daughter duo began My Thousand Words, a company specializing in creating sculptures out of books and paper, approximately one and a half years ago.
“It started with me playing with a book one day, and folding it into this pattern,” Debbie recalled. “I said, you know what — Rachael’s a sculptor and does cool clay pieces. Why doesn’t she put one of her figures on the book? But it didn’t look right with clay. We made one with paper, and that’s when it was born.”
The Lambins’ extensive catalog of work includes sculptures modeled after fairy tales, animals, paper dolls, activities and more. The two divide tasks and create the artwork together.
“I’ll do the folding, and Rachael will take the work and make it into a three-dimensional, very strong figure. She’ll actually make a tree and wind it with paper,” Debbie said.
Rachael is also behind the name of the company — My Thousand Words.
“We were brainstorming ideas, and my mom was thinking it would be neat if the logo was an open book with words on pages. I was thinking of the saying, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words,’ and how books consist of thousands of different ideas, and how many thoughts people can get from a book. It’s a fun play on words in a way,” Rachael explained.
She and her mother conduct all work out of their home in Reno, Nevada. Their book sculptures are shown at the Nevada Museum of Art, Eye Hook Gallery and Elegant Avenue in Reno, as well as Artsy Fartsy Gallery in Carson City. The art is on the way to South Shore’s Benko Art Gallery and the Lambins are in talks with additional galleries around the lake.
Rachael and Debbie create many of their sculptures based on their own ideas, but will also custom make pieces for people who have specific requests.
My Thousand Words sculptures begin at $100, and prices range depending on the complexity of the artwork.
To learn more about My Thousand Words or place an order, visit http://www.mythousandwords.com.

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