By Lisa Hornung • Photograhy by Kathryn Harrington
There is a Triple Crown of racing, so it makes sense to have a Triple Crown of equine artists — especially in Louisville.
The art of Kentucky equine artist Jaime Corum, impressionist painter Lisa Palombo and bronze monument sculptor Jocelyn Russell were recently on display at “Brushes and Bronze” at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society in downtown Louisville.
Here are the stories of the three women artists who were a part of the Triple Crown Trio and “Brushes and Bronze.”
Jaime Corum
A true horse-lover, Jaime Corum grew up on horseback in Kentucky. When she wasn’t riding, she was drawing and painting horses.
She got her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Kentucky, has had a successful career as an equine artist, and has taught art at Bellarmine University. Her art captures the conformation, action, and spirit of the horse with intense detail and beauty.
She has created a series of prints celebrating Secretariat, known as the greatest racehorse of all time. She was asked to create the art for the Woodford Reserve Derby Bottle in 2022 and again in 2023. The 2022 bottle featured a piece called “Dreams in Bloom,” which featured a close-up view of three racing thoroughbreds surrounded by flowers, including red roses, symbolizing the Kentucky Derby. Corum’s 2023 Woodford Reserve bottle features a portrait of Secretariat in the Derby winner’s circle, draped with the Garland of Roses with jockey Ron Turcotte smiling in the saddle.
Corum also has a three-story mural in Secretariat Park in Paris, Ky., which has also gained international acclaim. Paris is where Secretariat lived and died. The mural is on the side of the Baldwin Hotel and is a front view of Turcotte on Secretariat’s back, racing toward the viewer. “This was my first gigantic horse. I’ve done a life-sized horse but never anything this big. It is so exhilarating, and I definitely want to do it again,” she told BloodHorse Magazine in 2022 when the mural was unveiled.
Corum has also painted a series of images of Secretariat running that become an animation when played together. “Big Red” isn’t her only subject. She paints Derby winners as well as privately owned horses on commission (often depicted with their canine friends). But meeting those giants is “like being in the presence of a rock star,” she told KET on “Kentucky Life.” “There is a beauty to every breed of horse,” she said on the show. “You’ll see more thoroughbreds and warmblood types in my artwork, just because that’s what I grew up with.”
Lisa Palombo
While her siblings had great academic success, Lisa Palombo of New Jersey had a stronger inclination toward art. Her aunt noticed her abilities and suggested art classes to her parents. At age 9, she began taking summer classes at the Rhode Island School of Design. She later earned her bachelor of fine arts with honors from RISD and began creating book covers and working in design in New York.
She began working in fine art after an agent saw a painting she made of fish at a fish store in Hoboken, New Jersey, and recognized her talent. She’s since been a successful fine artist for more than 30 years.
“I am so appreciative every day. I walk down into this room [her studio], and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, thank God that I am here,” she said in a YouTube video on her website. “I am so blessed to do what I do every day. And shame on me if I don’t get down there every day early and stand in front of that easel. And you know what? That’s half the battle -- showing up and standing in front of that easel and just do it. There’s no excuse.”
Her style is impressionist, full of bold, bright colors. Watching her paint in her YouTube video is seeing seemingly random swaths of paint in one color, paint-roller coverage in another, and layers and layers of color to eventually create a dazzling image on the canvas. The video shows her painting “Living Waters,” a large image of koi in a pond, surrounded by water lilies.
Palombo’s work has been featured on more than 40 book covers, numerous magazine features, a film (“The Bounty Hunter” in 2010, starring Jennifer Anniston and Gerard Butler), and the special volumes: “The Best of Oil Painting,” “Exploring Color,” “The Best of American Oil Artists (Vol. II)” and “Lisa Palombo: American Impressionist.” Palombo was recognized as the official artist for the 2020 Secretariat 50th Birthday Celebration and again in 2023 at the Belmont Stakes and the Secretariat Golden Anniversary art exhibition in Saratoga Springs, New York.
“I was thrilled and honored to have been chosen as the featured artist to showcase my work that captures the beauty and magnificence of Big Red -- a national and beloved racing hero,” Palombo told The Plaid Horse. “As we all know, Secretariat was far from any ordinary racehorse. In the sporting world, he’s often mentioned in the same breath alongside some of the human all-time greats.”
Jocelyn Russell
Born and raised in Southern Colorado, Jocelyn Russell learned art from her mother and learned about animals from the wild game her father and brothers hunted and brought home. Her paintings mostly feature animals in the wild and natural scenes.
Like her paintings, her sculptures feature animals wild and domestic. She has a series of monuments of animals at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana, as well as many African animal sculptures and reliefs. She even makes and sells animal-themed jewelry.
But arguably one of her most famous is the monument to Secretariat -- “Racing Into History” -- which she created in 2019. The Triangle Foundation in Lexington commissioned the sculpture, which was dedicated at Keeneland, and its final installation is at the Old Frankfort Pike Scenic Overlook just northwest of Lexington. A second monument was prominently featured at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes as part of a traveling Secretariat exhibit. It was dedicated in Ashland, Virginia, (near Secretariat’s birthplace) for permanent installation at the Randolph-Macon College campus in March 2024.
“Of course, I remember the race, and I remember Secretariat -- everybody does -- but to immerse yourself in the project was a whole different thing,” Russell told Tulsa World TV. “And to be first-hand with the man who rode him [Turcotte] was phenomenal; I mean, that really was moving and made a huge difference in the creation of the piece.”
Another equine monument Russell created is Sgt. Reckless, a hero war horse in the Korean War. The sculpture is life-size and depicts the filly climbing up a Korean mountain with her vital cargo on her back and a determined look on her face.
Robin Hutton, author of “Sgt. Reckless: America’s War Horse,” commissioned Russell to create the sculpture of the horse who transported ammunition to the U.S. Marines in the war. The horse provided a shield for Marines, carried wounded soldiers to safety, and was wounded twice during the battle but never stopped until her mission was completed.
Three Sgt. Reckless monuments have been installed at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, Camp Pendleton in Southern California, and the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Russell has achieved international recognition for her paintings and sculptures, and she enjoys the versatility of tackling many subjects and mediums, stoking her inspiration. Her love of horses shows in the great detail and energy in her equine art.
Equine love
These three artists share a love of animals, and horses in particular. But they have a particular affinity and admiration for the chestnut horse with white socks owned by Penny Chenery: Secretariat. Known as the GOAT of horse racing, he was also a beautiful being. While these artists aren’t all from Kentucky, they can celebrate our horseracing heritage by their love of a record-breaking and historic equine superstar.
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