Sylvia Overmeyer's entry in the "Art of the Dairy" contest.

For almost the entire month of March, Prescott High School Art Teacher Mike Murphy had a large cow in his classroom.

No, the cow was not alive, (and never had been), but, it was life size, completely white, and on wheels.

The reason for a bovine in the art room?

"The Art of the Dairy" art contest. Mr. Murphy had found out about the contest and decided to let students try their creativity on a cow. An outline of a cow, that is. Each student who wanted to participate was given a simple paper with an outline of a cow and asked to design something depicting Molly Pitcher sending milk to Revolutionary war soldiers. Lucerne, who sponsors the contest, said in a press release that the contest is “designed to be a special educational project to promote artistic creativity, academic excellence and healthy lifestyles.”

Murphy said that he was “pleasantly surprised” when his student, 15 year old Sylvia Overmeyer, was chosen as one of the 30 semi-finalists from across the United States. But, on the other hand, Murphy believes that there is a wealth of artistic talent in Prescott, including many of his students. So he thinks, perhaps he shouldn’t be all that surprised. But his smile shows that he is definitely proud of Overmeyer’s accomplishment.

Lucerne says they had over 6,000 entrants this year, some as far away as Hawaii. Each of the 30 semi-finalists had a cow delivered to the art room at their schools, with instructions to paint their entry on the actual cow. Murphy thinks Overmeyer’s research was part of the reason, aside from her artistic talent, that she’s made it to the semi-finals. Overmeyer was quick to point out that she “just looked up Molly Pitcher on the Internet” which she didn’t count as “research.” Murphy just laughed and said, “Guess they don’t count the Internet as research.”

Mike Murphy and Sylvia Overmeyer.

She says, “The cow came and the first thing I did was put on the base colors for the background. I had to get a projection of the picture onto the cow and that made it a lot easier to get the image on there.”

As for her future in art, Overmeyer says it’s a hobby right now, but “I could consider going into it for a career, but at this time I’m really not sure.” She will definitely take more art classes, and really enjoys it. She says, “ I have this black binder that I take everywhere and when I feel like it I just open it up and draw a little.”

She says her parents were pretty excited when they found out she was a semi-finalist. She laughs and says, “Especially my dad. He was making a bunch of puns up about the cow. I guess that was to be expected because it’s not really something that you get to do everyday. They’re sending a cow to the school!” Although she doesn’t remember the puns, she does remember that her dad called the large fiberglass cow the Moo Juicer. “I’d come home from school and he’d say, “How’s the Moo Juicer doing?”

Overmeyer is modest about her win and quick to thank the people who helped her out. She says, “Because otherwise, without their help I probably wouldn’t have met the deadline.” And she said she just barely made the deadline. She needed to get the final form signed by her art teacher, and it was getting a bit late on a Friday and Mr. Murphy was already left the classroom. She was getting very nervous but then was lucky to find long-time PHS employee Don Jones, who was working in the Fine Arts building at the time. She says, “He’s the one who contacted Murphy and found him to sign the form. I have to thank him because otherwise I wouldn’t have made the deadline.”

She’s also grateful to Mr. Murphy. According to the rules, the teacher could not help with the actual painting, but he was there to offer advice and guidance to Overmeyer, which she appreciated. And of course he let the students know about the contest in the first place.

The schools that participate in the actual painting of the cows receive $250 to cover the cost of art supplies. The grand prize for the contest this year is a generous $20,000 to the winning students’ school, plus $5,000 for the student, and $5,000 for the teacher. In addition Mr. Murphy promised his students that if one of them won the grand prize, he would buy pizza for the entire class. And teenagers eat a lot of pizza.

The cow is currently on display at the Safeway on Willow Creek Road. The final results of the contest will come out sometime in April.

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