Bison by Richard Arfsten
Fifty years ago I was visiting at a little city zoo in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin with my two young daughters. This piece tells the true story of our experience.
You cannot imagine how big a bison / buffalo bull's head is until you are a foot away, with just a pig wire fence between you and the bull's head.
I was holding the hands of my two small daughters while they were feeding saltine crackers to some of the cows. There was also a bull in between a few of his cows and the fence.
I could see that the white parts of his eyes were red and then he started pawing the ground and snorting, making torrents of dust geysers.
A couple of seconds before he started pawing he used his head and swished the cows aside like they were paper bags. I guess he was jealous because his ladies were taking an interest in us as my kids fed them the crackers.
Scared does not even come close to explaining the situation. We were petrified. The cows have a tongue that is at least a foot long. They would stick it out through the fence wire and my kids would put the crackers on their tongues. I whispered to them to be quiet and slowly back up. The bull buffalo could have walked right through the fence at any time.
Back to the sculpture. This casting has a couple of flaws. I have it for sale because the story is so strong. As a maquette the flaws do not matter. The price reduction is a chance for somebody to save a bunch of money.
This piece will come with a thick stone base that is polished on top and rough cut on the sides.
You cannot imagine how big a bison / buffalo bull's head is until you are a foot away, with just a pig wire fence between you and the bull's head.
I was holding the hands of my two small daughters while they were feeding saltine crackers to some of the cows. There was also a bull in between a few of his cows and the fence.
I could see that the white parts of his eyes were red and then he started pawing the ground and snorting, making torrents of dust geysers.
A couple of seconds before he started pawing he used his head and swished the cows aside like they were paper bags. I guess he was jealous because his ladies were taking an interest in us as my kids fed them the crackers.
Scared does not even come close to explaining the situation. We were petrified. The cows have a tongue that is at least a foot long. They would stick it out through the fence wire and my kids would put the crackers on their tongues. I whispered to them to be quiet and slowly back up. The bull buffalo could have walked right through the fence at any time.
Back to the sculpture. This casting has a couple of flaws. I have it for sale because the story is so strong. As a maquette the flaws do not matter. The price reduction is a chance for somebody to save a bunch of money.
This piece will come with a thick stone base that is polished on top and rough cut on the sides.