Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Modern Day Cowgirl Intro

Where did it come from?
Since releasing my newest body of work "The Modern Day Cowgirl" in April of 2009 that seems to be the question of the hour. Especially after people ask me where I come from and I say New York City. So how did I come to this body of work? 
Welp, it all started with a horse (no pun intended).
Its true. I got my first real horse 4 years ago- Harley (my version of a Fat Boy) and it all started to happen. 
I got into riding western again,competing in schooling western shows and then met a gentleman who helped me get into a game called team penning. WHAT A THRILL! I started photographing some horse shows and events locally here in Maryland hoping to make money to keep team penning. About 2,000 photographs later I saw that I had an incredible and energetic grouping of images. 

So now what?
Choosing to do this was an interesting path because in looking at what is out there in terms of western art, the concentration weighs more on the side of cowboy art, not cowgirl art. Therefore, I felt compelled to create artworks that were more cowgirl oriented.

The second part was how to infuse my contemporary stylization into the drawings. Then finally how I wanted to execute the work. Originally I had started to use paint. Since that is the medium I use most I felt is was the natural course of action. Then once day I found a linoleum block in the studio and it was like love at first sight. One of the things that I love about western riding is the hand tooling quality and craftsmanship that goes into creating tack(saddles and bridles). This is an admirable task to me. So I thought that carving linoleum was the way I could be true to the subject matter and yet bring a modern flair to it.

So it is with great pleasure to introduce to you all "The Modern Day Cowgirl." 

So there you have it. Thats how it all began. With a horse!
I hope you check back to see the evolution and hop on and enjoy the ride!
Leiann Klein


2 comments:

  1. I saw some of your photos. They look awsome... Just one question... The steer in the Texas galary... Did it chase you around the place after you took its photo?? lol

    There is a landscape photo from Arizona that is outstanding. Very cool.

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