Gina McDougall Cohoe 1927-2014
Rancher’s Wife
Bronze, 1983 6/20
Estimate - $2,500 - $3,000
Gina Cohoe felt she had two gifts, horses and art and began doing bronze sculptures using the subjects she knew best - rodeo and ranch. Horses were her companion and her teacher.
McDougall performed on the rodeo circuit for four years and won back-to-back Canadian Barrel Racing Championships in 1962 and 1963. In 1973, she was commissioned to create a plaque to honor the historic and future participants, including rodeo performers, announcers and rodeo clowns for the diamond jubilee of the Silver Buckle Rodeo in Red Deer, Alberta. That year, she was also commissioned to create RCMP Musical Ride, a sculpture depicting the famed figure of the Canadian Mountie for Queen Elizabeth II. She was one of eight exhibitors invited to participate in the first art show hosted by the Calgary Stampede in 1977. She also has pieces in the private collections Princess Margaret and Randy Travis. She was inducted into the Calgary Stampede Western Art Show Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2013.
For 20 years, the Calgary Stampede commissioned McDougall to create their championship trophy bronzes. She was also commissioned by the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association and other stock breeding organizations as a sculptor for their championship trophies. Her preferred medium was bronze and her typical themes were motifs of western culture and horses. Her early works were produced under the name Gina McDougall; after 1975, she worked under the name Gina McDougall Cohoe or Gina Cohoe, following her marriage to Thoroughbred trainer and breeder, Ken Cohoe.
