by Anusha Shrivastava

Ten years ago, Connie Tanner noticed how one of her students at the Day Nursery, Olivia Borges Veras, loved drawing and was happiest when she sat down with her crayons and sketch pad. "Olivia was a fabulous artist. Even at that age she would produce really pretty pictures," reminisced Connie. Neither teacher nor student had any idea that a decade later, they would both enter and win a contest to design one of the 500 fiberglass cows that are to be put up all over the five boroughs to promote tourism this summer.

Last summer, a similar exhibition in Chicago generated more than $500 million in tourist revenue. Over ten million people saw it. Ruchira Shukla, an Island resident, was one of them. "The cows looked really nice. Chicago is less crowded so there were spots that seemed well-suited for this kind of an exhibition. I am not so sure about New York but I look forward to seeing them here anyway," said Ruchira.

Organizers of the exhibition, called CowParade, held a contest in which 1,200 entries were received. Connie, a nursery school teacher by profession and an artist by choice, says she heard about the contest from a friend and entered "just for fun. I am doing a design depicting New Yorkers because I think they are fun to paint. All my painting is about happy things and New York is a fun theme to paint. My style of painting is primitive, perhaps because I spend most of my day with three year olds. That is how my cow will look - bright and primitive," said Connie.

For Olivia, the cow design project was part of a class assignment. Forty schools had been picked to enter the contest and her design of a checker cab cow won. "I did not really expect my design to win so when I got the news I blanked out for a minute," admitted Olivia, a shy thirteen year old who still enjoys sketching and painting. "My mother bombarded me with questions about where it would be displayed and all that but we have not been told yet. All we know is that our names will be on a plaque displayed alongside the cow." The artists have only been told that the cows will be on display in Central Park, at Lincoln Center and other such tourist attractions. It is not known if any will be put on Roosevelt Island.

Olivia says she chose the checker cab design after consulting with her art teacher at PS/IS 217, Ms. Maryann Hatfield, because most references to New York depict the design. "We talked about the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks but this one seemed like the best," said Olivia. "It might have been tough to show the Statue's Crown on the horns of a cow."

For the past three weeks, Connie has been painting her cow at a storefront in South Street Seaport as she does not have enough space in her Rivercross apartment. "I am meeting several artists and swapping ideas with them. I hope I will get to do more of these projects now," said Connie. Olivia has been painting her cow in the art room at her school. Acrylic paints are being used by both as they can hold up to changes in weather. Connie will be paid $2,000 for her efforts but it is not clear that Olivia will get a monetary reward. "I may not even get a certificate," said Olivia, "but I don't mind. I am just enjoying painting my cow."

Each of the 500 cows has a sponsor, a corporation, an organization or an individual, who would have put up $7,500 for "their" cow. Even so, they don't own the cow. At the end of the summer, the cows will be auctioned off and the money given to charity.