Kifaru, black rhino



Kifaru
15 x 5 x 7.5
bronze on granite
edition of 30

 I went to Dallas today to pick this sculpture up from the Beretta Gallery, for my show with Sheri Jones at the Southwestern Adventist University, only to find that it had just sold. That was a very great surprise. I will have another cast but not in time for the show at the University.
The title of this sculpture, Kifaru, is Swahili for black rhino. It was considered one of the Big 5, along with the elephant, cape buffalo, lion, and leopard. Compared to the white rhinoceros they are more aggressive. They are no longer hunted but still fall victim to poachers. I took a lot of photos and sketches of rhinos at different zoos for this sculpture. Our zoo here in Fort Worth has a great collection of rhinos having, black, white, and Indian rhinoceroses. Sadly all rhinos are endangered but at our zoo and at Fossil Rim Wildlife Park, near Glen Rose, they have been successful in breeding and raising rhinos. I think they are really a great animal to depict. What I like about them is that they look so prehistoric.

Cape Buffalo

Mbogo
12 x 4 x 7
bronze on granite
edition of 20

This is the first sculpture I ever sold. I will have one of them in the show at the Southwestern Adventist University at the end of the month. It was one of the most challenging pieces I've ever made. Usually I work from life or my own photos. To the best of my knowledge there aren't  any cape buffalos around here. My sister's neighbor, a big game hunter, had a head and some hooves that I used and I watched a lot of videos but I had a very hard time finding a back view. Thanks to the internet I finally found the images I needed. The neighbor really knew his cape buffalos and gave me great advice also. In the end I was pleased with the sculpture. The name Mbogo is the Swahili name for a cape buffalo.