Photo of the day

Chocolate Moo-se - Houston Cowparade, 2001
I had a milkshake last night so I thought of this cow.

Title:	Chocolate Moo-se
Artist:	Michelle O'Michael Salli Babbitt
Sponsor:	The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa
Chocolate Moo-se is a cow-parfait of strawberry, chocolate, whipped cream, a candy-stripped straw, and a one-foot cherry on top. According to O’Michael, “who was born and raised on the verdant pastures of West Texas, this is not what I had in mind when as a child I said, “I want to be a cowgirl”. This cow was inspired by the artist’'s father’'s 23 square mile range and the 20 cows able to survive on it. Taking my culinary skills to a new level, the cow was carved and skewered with a steel armature.   It supports the 14 foot cow and steel cup.” Michelle O’Michael’'s artistic aesthetic springs from the flat West Texas land with steel trees of rigs and pump jacks. O’Michael began art studies under the direction of her father and West Texas teachers. She continued at multiple universities and museum schools, and has a degree from the University of Texas Austin. O’Michael’'s grandfather was a coalfield blacksmith.   Her sculpture is a continuation of his steel work.