Artist's Statement:

Slim Pickens...my, what a character! All of my life I loved him in his movies and TV appearances. In the early 1980's, Dean Krakel, then the Director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, asked me to do a portrait sculpture of him. Unfortunately, I didn't get to it until after Slim passed away. What I would give even now, to have met ol' Slim.

My friend, Ken Curtis set up a meeting for me with Slim's widow, Maggie. She provided plenty of photographs for me, along with lots of great stories. Slim was a helluva hand as a cowboy in his day. Naturally, I have him standing next to a horse that's heard all his stories so many times, that Slim is fixin' to put him to sleep.

Ken, Rex Allen, Sr. and another one of Slim's good close friends, Herb Ellis would examine photos of the work in progress, then call me with their suggestions. Ken called one day when I was nearly finished and asked me if I would go ahead and trim ol' Slim's belly a little... just for the sake of posterity.

In 1984, West Texas Rehabilitation Center had a sponsor purchase the entire limited edition of 50 which almost sold out. Those bronzes brought in somewhere close to $200,000.oo. The last I heard, Rehab had only two left, but they may be gone, now. If you wish, you can contact me for availability and I'll be glad to help you. Mind you, 100% of that money will go to WTRC.