“Cowboy”

We were soaking in a shallow pool at Valley View Hot Springs on the western slope of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains overlooking the San Luis Valley here in Colorado. The hot pool, one of many perched on the mountain slope, was so shallow it barely covered our reclining, naked bodies. Sharing our little pool was a cowboy wearing a big white Stetson. We chatted about ranching and life on the range. What a relief it must be for the hard working ranch hands to find a pool to wash off the dust and soothe the aching muscles after days of chasing cattle and mending fences.

Later that day, we tried out a slightly deeper pool. Much to our surprise one of our fellow soakers, wearing only a ten gallon hat, suddenly stood up in the knee deep water, his manly parts exposed, and began to recite a very long, involved cowboy poem. We were new to Colorado without much exposure to cowboys or their poetry. Since then we’ve enjoyed Durango’s Cowboy Poetry Festival, though those performers are generally clothed!

This two-part sculpture is inspired by that cowboy experience. I imagined a skinny cowpoke, tired and dirty from the trail looking for a bath and finding only a shallow pool.