Toy Cow

Toys, wood, steel. 2016. Client: The Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Palo Alto, CA

See a video of the making of Toy Cow here. See how the toys were added to the sculpture here.

From afar, Toy Cow appears as a huge colorful cow sculpture. On closer examination, one sees it is made from an organized cacophony of hundreds of dolls, action figures and toys of every description. It’s as if some cosmic magnet pulled these colorful objects together to form a perfect cow. It incorporates everyday objects recombined in an extraordinary way.

The sculpture is constructed entirely of reclaimed toys permanently screwed onto an anatomically accurate wooden armature. Toy Cow makes people smile, especially children, who delight in finding their favorite toys. It provides a positive experience to aid in the healing journey.

I received the following letter about Toy Cow.

Dear Don,

My name is Lenore, and I work at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto.
I walk by your sculpture often, and at least once a day I see a kid standing in front of it, completely enthralled, searching up, down, and around, pointing out familiar characters… and pieces of familiar characters ;) Yesterday I heard a little boy say, “That’s Buzz Lightyear’s leg!”

I don’t know how much you know about this hospital, but we care for the sickest kids in the country here, and many of them spend very little time outside their rooms (particularly during Covid this past year). We have a lot of wonderful art and sculpture and interactive stations all over the hospital, but I have seen more kids delighted for the longest time with your sculpture than any other single object here.

I just wanted to say that every time I see a kid there, forgetting where they are and how they feel for a while as they hunt for Sponge Bob on the cow, it really makes me grateful for you.

Thank you for making such a delightful piece of art.

Cheers,
Lenore