American Cowgirl #23
colorado
American Cowgirl #25
American Cowgirl #24
American Cowgirl #23
American Cowgirl #22
colorado
American Cowgirl #21
WYOMING
American Cowgirl #20
American Cowgirl #19
WYOMING
American Cowgirl #18
south dakota
American Cowgirl #17
louisiana
American Cowgirl #16
WYOMING
American Cowgirl #15
south dakota
American Cowgirl #14
north dakota
American Cowgirl #13
utah
American Cowgirl #12
colorado
American Cowgirl #11
colorado
American Cowgirl #10
American Cowgirl # 9
texas
American Cowgirl # 8
texas
American Cowgirl # 7
texas
American Cowgirl # 6
colorado
American Cowgirl # 5
nebraska
American Cowgirl # 4
illinois
American Cowgirl # 3
north dakota
American Cowgirl # 2
American Cowgirl # 1
Arizona
Arizona
In developing any project, there must be a clearly defined destination with a detailed path on how to arrive. The Phase 1
segment of the American Cowgirls Project was both a Photographic and Artistic journey that will lead to a major Art Auction in
2022/23 pending on the completion of all 25 Limited Edition prints that are currently being released from the paintings.
As of December 29, 2021, all 25 paintings were completed, with the goal accomplished after 9 years since the first
American Cowgirl was on-boarded.
The goal of this project was to confirm through our SUBMISSION and SELECTION process, 25 Real American
Cowgirls from across the United States with a good cross section from as many different States as possible. Flexibility was
maintained and reassessed at the halfway point of the project. Preliminary goal was to have a maximum of 4 Cowgirls from
any specific State but this criteria was dropped to ensure that all Cowgirls had the opportunity to be a part of the Project.
There was an established protocol on the selection process that was outlined on the page “ Applying to become one of
Gabriel Krekk's American Cowgirls”, but this page was removed after American Cowgirl #25 was selected.
Once a commitment was made to accept a Cowgirl into the line-up, the Artist would get to understand the life of the new
Cowgirl. This was accomplished through embedding himself into her life for a short period of time during the photoshoots,
through the interview process and through occasional interactions. This was so important as the Artist tried to identify with
everything he had come to know about her. With these intentions, the Artist would be able capture his observations when he was
behind the board creating the painting of that Cowgirl.
Each cowgirl had undergone a complete photoshoot in her environment or within her specialty field with the photoshoots taking
from 3 to 5 days to complete with weather conditions considered. The objective was to capture a minimum of 3,000 images.
from the photoshoots. The photoshoots had two specific purposes which included focus on portraiture for the Cowgirl's
portfolio and the other was to secure one or more images which inspired the Artist enough to consider the image to move
to a painting. That selection process for an image that would move to painting was also a very intense process. Once the
public was notified through social media that a painting was to begin, daily progress updates were posted so the public could
follow along. Upon completion of the painting, the Artist produced a tribute video on Youtube that included photoshoot images,
and time lapse photography of the creation of the painting. Links to each tribute video have been provided to Youtube for each
of the Cowgirls. We will be coming back to create tribute videos for American Cowgirls #1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 as this process was not
incorporated until American Cowgirl #6.
phase one project objective
the photography & art
wyoming
SOUTH DAKOTA
Click on each Cowgirl’s pic to visit
their personal page,
Gabriel Krekk’s American Cowgirls