Despite having spent hundreds of hours watching bison, I never tire of observing them. Where others may see a docile, lumbering animal in a slow-moving herd, I see a deep landscape of gesture nuance of form and individual character. As I begin work on a new bison piece, I find myself yet again, with sketchbook and pen in hand.
There is always more to learn. The bison are different today than they will be tomorrow, or in a month. Today, their heads are down, working to grasp the barely emerging nubs of grass coming up amid fickle spring weather. A month from now, the hunger-sharp hip bones of the winter weary cows will begin to round out, and the greening fields will be littered with rusty-red calves full of life and energy. The bison will be different yet again in late summer, when the drama of the rut signals the beginning of another cycle.
Bison possess a lot more depth and beauty than they’re afforded when most people observe them, a perfect metaphor for so many things we take for granted. Showing the capacity of an animal – like a bison – to have not only individual physical traits, but innate fears, desires, preferences, makes them all the more fascinating and familiar. I feel the artist’s job is to reveal the overlooked magic in the ‘every day’ things of life. And so I am here again with bison, watching, observing, modeling, drawing – finding a way to communicate what I see in these remarkable animals.
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