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ART
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hey’re in doorways, on sidewalks, in shops
and the airport. T hey’re in squares, on
stairs and in performing arts centers. If we
are everywhere, so are they. Portland has
become krazy for kows.
Individual sponsors have commissioned
100 artists to create 100 kows that are now
on public display every-freakin’-where in the
Portland area. Half will be auctioned off over
the Internet and half at a gala in July
(“Wine, Dine and Bovine”), and all the
money goes to New Avenues for Youth,
which helps homeless teens, and Trillium
Family Services, which offers care to emo
tionally disturbed children and their families.
How can you argue with that?
Serena Barton and Marcus Lintner
aren’t arguing. They made kows, by golly,
and in true gay-artist fashion, they’re two
of the coolest kows on the block.
Barton’s “Cowmedia dell’A rte,” is out
side the Portland Center for the Perform
ing Arts. You can’t miss it; it’s the one in
the bright blue tutu. “I decided it could be
an enjoyable challenge,” she quips, “to
transfer my style to a fiberglass bovine.”
Barton’s oil painting is normally very classical,
inspired by 19th century French and Italian styles.
Look hard enough and you’ll see this reflected in
“Cowmedia.” Barton claims that the design “was
not a conscious process at all" but that the final
result suggests influences from “Degas to the
hippo dancers in Fantasia," with a little of her
childhood ballerina fantasy thrown in.
T he perfect placement of the ballet kow at
the arts center is no coincidence. Sponsors chose
kows based on preliminary designs from artists.
Barton exclaims she is “thrilled” to be in
front of the downtown building. “A cting was
Boveena flirts
with the camera
Portland queer kow artists leave legacies of their
b y
L
is a
the most important creative activity of my
youth, and I know the love of the theater influ
ences my artwork.”
Also well placed is the kow that is absolute
ly the gayest in the herd. Lintner’s intricate
“Boveena, the Afrikow Queen” is safely tucked
indoors at Portland International Airport out
side sponsor Norm Thom pson’s store.
We know what you’re thinking— gay guy,
“Queen,” very funny. But, although the Portland
interior designer admits there could be something
“subliminal” going on, his actual vision was
inspired by a trip to a Zulu village two years ago
and by another trip to an African booth at a flea
B
r a d s h a w
market in California. Both offered very
inexpensive beadwork of all kinds, which
Lintner bought up in droves. “I wasn’t
sure what I was going to do with this
stuff, 1 was just sure 1 wanted it.”
After “staring at her blank” for sev
eral weeks, Lintner finally decided to base
his kow on the dress styles from the Zulu vil
lage. “They don’t have queens in the villages—
they have a king and he has a wife— but I
thought, you know, she should be the queen.”
Boveena’s earrings are bracelets made and
worn by the Zulu women; the figures hanging
from her headdress are ceremonial dolls. Lintner
did all the beading himself and, because he also
creates custom-made furniture, constructed
Boveena’s throne. It took about $700 more than
the allotted stipend and
about 400 hours.
Marcus Lintner
Both artists
and “Boveena, the
talk about the
Afrikow Queen”
kows as family.
“The cow lived
in our dining room since
early last fall,” Barton
says. “It never occurred |
to me not to make the
cow a ‘person’— an indi
vidual. It surprised me
I
that she is somewhat
unusual among the cow sp
in that respect.”
PHOTO BY
CHEYNE
CUMMING
Lintner says he was just going to call his “T he
Afrikow," but after a while, “I thought, ‘No, she
needs a nam e....’ T he more I worked on her, the
more I felt like I’d given birth to this thing. I
think I have stretch marks now,” he laughs.
Both are happy to
have contributed to
this event. “T h e
whole cow project
has been so fun to
w atch,” Lintner says.
“It’s been really good
for everyone in the
arts community.”
And, ultimately, for
Oregon kids, too. J H
J
Willamette Week presienta tfje Stil Annual
A
To find out more about
Kows
for
K
id s ,
visit
wuw.kowsfcrrkids .com .
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