08/ 15/ 05 First Two Official Wisconsin Cows!

We are pleased to introduce the first two CowParade Wisconsin cows - "Say Cheese, Wisconsin" by Bruce Bodden and "Where the Cows Are" by Steven Kozar. Photos will be posted soon!

Steven Kozar
Steven Kozar resides in McFarland, Wisconsin and as been an artist for as long as he can remember. Early influences in his life include architect Frank Lloyd Wright, modern American sculptor and artist Alexander Calder and landscape painter Andrew Wyeth.

Kozar began his art education studying European History, Art History and Music Theory at Illinois State University. After a short stint at I.S.U., Kozar enrolled at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he learned a more disciplined approach to art.

At age 22, Kozar made the jump into full time painting and moved to rural Wisconsin where he immersed himself in the landscape. He's taken many thousands of slides and continues to spend time looking for new things to paint.

Artist Steven Kozar's love of the rolling farmland of Wisconsin is apparent, with his CowParade creation, "Where the Cows Are." Dairy is the largest segment of Wisconsin Agriculture and nothing says America's Dairyland better than Steven's realistic works of art.

Bruce Bodden
Hailing from Neenah, Wisconsin, Bruce Bodden works in several mediums including acrylic, oil pastel and wood. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UW-Oshkosh in 1994 emphasizing drawing and functional design.

Winner of the 1990 Wisconsin DNR State Park sticker contest, Bodden appears regularly at art fairs throughout Wisconsin and also displays his work in a few galleries statewide. His use of vivid colors and geometrical shapes makes his work recognizable, and he stands by the thought that art imitates what life wants to be.

Bodden uses his art to make people smile, and his CowParade Cow, "Say Cheese, Wisconsin," certainly does that.

Wisconsin’s 116 cheese plants produce more than 2.2 billion pounds of cheese every year and Wisconsin cheesemakers win more awards than any other state or nation. "Say Cheese, Wisconsin" represents the more than 500 varieties, types and styles of cheese our cheesemakers now produce.

For more information on these CowParade artists, including photos, contact Becky Kronberg or Claire Varrelmann, 800-373-9662 or cowparade@wmmb.org.

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