Over Worked and Under Paid – Gold Miner’s Donkey

Size H: 55″  W: 62″  D: 24″

Edition Size: 9      Price: Email or call for current price

This sculpture was created because I wanted a piece permanently installed in Loveland’s incredible Benson Park Sculpture Garden!! Each year, the artists participating in that year’s “Sculpture in the Park” Show and Sale are asked if they have any pieces which they would like to have considered for purchase and placement in Benson Park the following year. Well… I don’t normally work large enough to have a piece considered, but I was getting old enough that I wasn’t certain how long I would be CAPABLE of creating something worth submitting for consideration. So in 2017 following the Park Show, I decided to go for it! But what to create that would get the favorable attention of the selection committee of The Loveland High Plains Arts Council? They always receive well over 100 submissions each year, so I had to give them something that was unique. They didn’t have any donkeys in the park, and there were very few pieces which had anything to do with Colorado history other than cowboys and Indians. I decided to do a gold-miner’s donkey, heavily laden with the pick and shovel, rifle in scabbard, water canteen, etc. It took me four months to create, then another seven months to go through the foundry process. It was ready just in time for the sculpture show in 2018, and several members of the selection committee got to see it in person. When the call went out for submission, I was ready! And then I waited… until the call came in early December saying that my “Over-worked and Under-paid” was one of six selected for installation in 2019. I was beyond thrilled, as it means that one of my pieces will now be there in Benson Park, along with so many created by my friends, for years to come… even when I am gone.

The title, “Over-worked and Under-paid” refers to the patience of the little beast of burden, who was frequently the only companion of the miner, and a valuable helpmate. How many of us can identify with that situation?