Canyon Princess, evokes the grace and power of wildlife in the West and stands as the focal point at the end of the hallway over the Edward L. Gaylord Exhibition Wing. The fine art sculpture likeness of this female cougar, also known as the mountain lion, was sculpted by Western artist Gerald Balciar from a single 31-ton block of Colorado yule marble. The finished piece is twice life-size of an actual cougar, soars 15 feet above its base, and weighs slightly more than eight tons. In 1995, the sculpture was donated by Balciar for his appreciation of winning the Museum’s annual Prix de West Award for outstanding artistic accomplishment as a critical point early in his career. His process of creating Canyon Princess took more than a year, with the actual sculpting process of five months.
You can find more information about Gerald Balciar’s Canyon Princess at the Dickinson Research Center.
