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During the big "cow"
craze in 2001,
Claudia's life
began. If every other artist in the world was
making a life-size cow sculpture, I would make one,
too.
I started with the
internet, exploring "Longhorns." I was now a Texan, and
I since I wanted to make the quintessential Texas cow,
it of course had to be a longhorn.
Fortunately, in my
research I discovered longhorn females are endowed with
horns. Sometimes the female (or cow) of the species,
does not sport horns. I also discovered that female
longhorns are called dams, and the very finest,
prize-winning
dams are called "grand dams."
Hence her title
Claudia Grand Dam, a play on martial artist and actor
Claude Van Dam's name. Considering the real physical power of the
longhorn, it was a fitting title, I thought.
To further
my research, I hung out on just
the other side of a pasture of longhorns. Luckily, a
longhorn bull came up to me. Separated only by a barbed wire
fence, we hung together for about five
minutes.
At this propitious
meeting, I was able to discover the true essence of the
longhorn. The bull was proud, proprietary, and had the most
gentle eyes, with unbelievably long lashes. I wandered back
to teenage days in Oregon, visualizing myself pulling on
those bothersome cow teats
(continued next
page). |
 Claudia Grand Dam: mixed
media. At the Lone Star Koi Club Tour,
2002.
Photo: Helen Rodriguez
Claudia Grand Dam:
frontal view,
under construction, 2002
Claudia Grand Dam:
back view,
under construction, 2002 |
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