|
|
|
|
Clifton Cow Freedom
Cincy Freedom takes a rest on her way to Mount Storm ParkIt’s been two years since an emaciated but not weak, Charolais cow escaped from Ken Meyer Meats by jumping a six foot wooden fence that was inside the plant keeping the animals from going into the street. Occasionally cows escaped from the various meat packing plants in Cincinnati’s Mill Creek Valley but they usually are shot right in the street or herded into a near by fenced parking lot. “Cincy Freedom” was able to defy such a fate and roamed free on the wooded hillsides above Cincinnati’s Mill Creek Valley for two weeks. February 22nd will be the second anniversary of her capture.
It was a capture that gave her a reprieve from death and a comfortable life on The Farm Sanctuary in upstate New York. The director says that she is still skittish when humans approach. The Farm Sanctuary will be having it big fundraiser at the Plaza Hotel in May. They have two sanctuaries one in New York State and the other in California. Their occupants are normally cows but they have all kinds of animals. The Farm Sanctuary believes that farm animals should not be eaten.
The six foot wooden fence "Cincy Freedom" jumped to escape Tom started on his “Cincy Freedom” paintings in a usual way. Every year he creates the artwork for his streets block party. Since the escaped cow was still on everyone’s mind he painted her. That painting lead to another and then another and now he looks for other commissions to include the cow in. He would like to paint the cow jumping over the fence at Ken Meyer Meats. Even though the business is closed now he could still populate it with the various characters trying to get the cow as she sauntered off. The Ken Meyer Meats building is something out of a Dickens Novel. Strange dormers rise out of the numerous peaks in the roof. What-the-hell-are-they conveyors line the edges of the building. The intense autumn yellow color of the building with its black trim disguises the building from revealing its real purpose. More than likely built as a slaughter house the formal outside configuration in no way shows the barnyard like interior. Over the last two years Tom has been adding to the historical record of the cow’s travels. This last fall he was commissioned to paint the cow on the grounds of a home the cow passed through. In his research he did not see any tracks but it’s very likely the cow rested for a moment as seen in the painting. The only thing that wasn’t there was the group of children on the left side of the painting in their spring finery. Tom included them for compositional balance and the fact that it gives the painting a magical feeling as if it was part of a bigger story.
"Cincy Freedom" is now called "Freedom" at the Farm
Sanctuary |
|
|
"Cincy Freedom" the day she was captured
