Maureen, a city girl—having lived in Edmonton, Montreal, Los Angeles—became particularly intrigued by cows when the Harvey family bought the farm in 1974.
“They were everywhere,” says Maureen. “They would just stare at you. And stare. And stare. I’d sketch them, and they’d stare.”
Cows painting by Maureen Harvey
As Maureen puts it, “I hadn’t really experienced cows that close. Or in that variety.” A few years after buying the farm, Maureen illustrated the book The Silver Chain (with author Gerda Bako, 1982). Although the Harveys had a dog too at that time—a German Shepard—the dog in the book was inspired by neighbouring Mort’s dog. Their property also inspired illustrations for the book: a dump only a few hundred yards on the east side of Highway 2, close to Harvey’s. And on the road to Mort’s, there were many, many cows. . . that just stood and stared.
When Maureen came back from the yearlong family boat trip, the cows seemed to be bigger than ever. “The boat was so cramped,” says Maureen. “Coming back to the prairies, the animals looked bigger. You could see them across the lake. I mostly saw them when driving back and forth. The neighbours had milk cows: you’d hear them mooing. Then you’d hear Jean calling, ‘Here cow, here cow.’ Calling a cow back because she had strayed.” Cows became a curiosity and new influence on Maureen’s work.
cow sculptures by Maureen Harvey
According to Maureen, the interaction between self and cow involves the sheer scale of the animal. “They seemed so big. They just seemed so darn big! And their udders. Their bags were so loaded, and having to waddle around with that between your legs. I can’t imagine the discomfort: the enormity of the cow.”
artwork by Maureen Harvey
When travelling to London, England to exhibit her works alongside Audrey Watson at Alberta House, Maureen experienced a change in scale among—of all things—cows. “We went for a drive in the countryside, and the cows looked even more enormous. England is such a small country. They’ll have a little hill, a big cow, a little fence. The scale was just wild!”
Nowhere has this scale been bigger than with Maureen’s Prairie Picnic, her mural commissioned for the 1983 Universiade Games in Edmonton. It lived on 97th street adjacent to Jasper Avenue and across from the WW Arcade/ Hardware Grill before being unceremoniously demolished for the creation of new buildings.
Prairie Picnic, Maureen Harvey, 1983