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Summer is a great time to explore the art spread across the Ada community – especially for viewers unable to visit art galleries elsewhere in Ohio.

As a weekly series, The Icon will feature the art located on The Remington Walk on the Ohio Northern University campus. For some viewers, this series is familiar. For others, it may be a first-time experience. 

Either way, it’s an opportunity to take a walk and view some art that is uniquely Ada. The Walk is spread through campus and may be viewed by following the ONU walking path, beginning near Affinity Village, west of The Freed Center.

The information about the Remington Walk is provided by ONU.

Today’s featured work – Wooly Chaps
1905  by Frederick Remington 

This work is based on his popular first sculpture, “The Bronco Buster,” cast in 1895. 

Wooly chaps are a type of "hair on hide" chaps. The term "hair on hide" is just what it sounds like: It means that the leather was processed leaving the hair on the hide. Usually, however, the phrase hair on hide implies the leather, and hair, is from a short haired animal such as a cow.

In the case of wooly chaps, however, the leather and hair is from a much longer haired animal, such as a buffalo, bear, Angora goat, and others. Just how long the hair on a pair of wooly chaps is varies greatly according to what they are made of.

In Wooly chaps you find refinements to the original “Bronco Buster” including a rotated right hand, a change in neckerchief, the stirrup rotated slightly and a refinement of the horse’s tail and mane to better reflect the action of the bronco. 

The Remington Walk background
The Walk was a gift to ONU from Jim and Eileen Dicke of New Bremen, Ohio. It was dedicated at the 2007 homecoming.

Sites for each sculpture were selected by Toby Baker, wife of the president of ONU at the time of creation of this series, with the assistance of Tony Wolke, director of Grounds and Assistant Director of Physical Plant at ONU.

Also in this series
Part 1- Stagecoach
Part 2 - The Outlaw
Part 3 – Mountain Man 
Part 4 - Wooly Chaps

CLICK HERE to view the third installment in this series. Each installment includes a link to the earlier installment.