Concrete Cows

The Concrete Cows in Milton Keynes, England are an iconic work of sculpture, created in 1978 by the American artist Liz Leyh.[1][2] There are three cows and three calves, approximately half life size.

Replica Concrete Cows at Bancroft

The Cows are constructed from scrap, skinned with fibre glass reinforced concrete donated by a local builder.[3]

Context

The artist was an "artist-in-residence" in the early days of Milton Keynes and part of her role was to lead community participation in art. The Cows was one of a number of pieces created during her stay.[3] Other examples of her work here include The Owl and The Pussy Cat at Netherfield and a concrete mural near the leisure centre at Stantonbury. They were originally constructed at Stacey Hill Farm near Wolverton, where she had set up her studio. The base armatures were metal, with chicken wire used to create the general shape, then stuffed with newspaper. The original colouring of the cows was achieved using dyes. Some cows were brown. It is only through the council painting the cows that the uniform black and white has appeared. The artist also ensured that each cow had a heart shape used as part of the pattern on the cow skin.

Later commentators have interpreted it as an example of conceptual art: the artist poking fun at the preconceived notion of the new city, held by commentators who had never seen the place, that it would consist entirely of concrete pavements where once there were fields, and where its deprived children would need models to know how real cows once looked.[4] The reality of course was different: Milton Keynes Development Corporation was building "a city in the forest", with substantially more open green space than found in traditional cities. Furthermore, there are real farms with real cows within 2 miles (3 km) of the site, and the cows are currently located in a real field.

Response
The cows in 1985

On their site in a public park, the Cows have been vandalised and modified. Sometimes they have simply been damaged,[5] while at other times they have been painted pink, become zebras,[6] become skeletal,[7] had pyjama bottoms added,[8] have been beheaded[8] in the style of Damien Hirst, have acquired BSE (mad cow disease) graffiti,[8] had one of the calves kidnapped (with ransom notes to the local papers).[6] One of the Cows briefly enjoyed the services of a papier-mâché bull. When UK Culture Minister Kim Howells referred to modern art trends as "conceptual bullshit",[9] the Cows acquired concrete cow-pats.

Significance

In a programme, The Sculpture 100, made for Sky Television in December 2005, the Concrete Cows were included in a list of the 100 most influential works of twentieth-century open-air sculpture in England.[10] The list also includes another piece in Milton Keynes: Triple Starhead by Paul Neagu (in Furzton).[10]

Two of the Cows featured at the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2014).[11]

The home supporters stand at Milton Keynes Dons F.C. is known as "The Cowshed", while its home stadium was briefly nicknamed 'The Moo Camp'[12] (after FC Barcelona's Nou Camp). The team mascots are two pantomime-style cows named "Donny" and "Mooie".

Actor Russell Crowe joked about the cows in 2007 while promoting the movie 3:10 to Yuma.[13] The cows appear in Charles Stross' story The Concrete Jungle, and in Mark Wallington's Destination Lapland, where he marked seeing them a highlight of his passing visit.

Location
The original Concrete Cows at INTU Milton Keynes

The Cows were made at Stacey Hill Farm, now the site of the Milton Keynes Museum.[14] and originally located at a parkland site in Bancroft. They have subsequently resided at the National Hockey Stadium and INTU Milton Keynes, beside the Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre.[15] In spring 2016 they were moved to MK Museum – which is where they originally started out as a temporary exhibit.[14] [15]. This herd of five cattle – two cows, two calves and a bullock – have recently been repaired and renovated by MK Parks Trust and MK Museum volunteers, and are now in excellent condition as they approach their 40th birthday.

The restored original cows, now back home at MK Museum, June 2017

However the replicas (made by Bill Billings) in Bancroft are perhaps better known and are sited next to the A422 (Monks Way) between V5 Great Monks St. and V6 Grafton St.) where it passes under the West Coast Main Line, near its junction with the A5. Direct access on foot or by bike is possible by redway. The nearest rail stations for Bancroft or the MK Museum are Milton Keynes Central and Wolverton. Buses for Bancroft include MK Metro buses 5 and 6 between Bletchley, Central Milton Keynes and Wolverton which call at near-by bus stops on each side of Monks Way near the junction with H3's northern carriageway and Octavian Drive. If approaching on foot or by bike from these stops, a stream separates the cows from the eastern (Octavian Rd) side of H3. There is a bridge over the stream next to the southern carriageway of H3, and an underpass links this bridge to the cows' field.

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See also

References
  1. "The Concrete Cows". Milton Keynes Heritage Association / Milton Keynes Museum. Retrieved 17 March 2008.
  2. "Liz Leyh". Unfinished Histories. Retrieved 18 April 2020. Liz Leyh is an artist, maker and community arts activist currently active in the UK. She was born and raised in Utica, a city located between New York and the Canadian border, to parents who were factory workers of Polish immigrant stock.
  3. "The Reunion – A programme reuniting the people who created Milton Keynes". BBC Radio 4. 22 April 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  4. The Sculpture 100 (saved at Archive.org)
  5. "Cows vandalism is udder disgrace". BBC News. 3 September 2002. Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  6. Places to visit in MK: Concrete Cows
  7. Milton Keynes cows to stay as skeletons for Halloween
  8. New Bradwell School CLUTCH Club. "Concrete Cows".
  9. Minister attacks Turner art
  10. The Sculpture 100, England's public sculpture, 1905–2005, Sky Television Arts Channel, 2005
  11. Laura Mark (5 June 2014). "First look inside the Venice Biennale's British Pavilion". The Architects' Journal. Retrieved 18 April 2020. Visitors to the British Pavilion are greeted by a pair of concrete cows on loan from Milton Keynes. The cows were originally produced by the artist Liz Leyh shortly after the post-war town was created in the late-seventies.
  12. Patrick Barclay (18 April 2009). "Milton Keynes building something concrete at the Moo Camp". The Times.
  13. Sexton, Anna (17 September 2007). "Stone the Crowe's!". Milton Keynes Citizen. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  14. Milton Keynes' concrete cows on the moo-ve to Milton Keynes Museum
  15. Milton Keynes concrete cows return to museum

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