What would make someone want to spend their free time sitting in the middle of a field watching goats?

Goats have qualities that could make a person envious. Goats do not lie or cheat, talk on their cell phones in the grocery line, write bad poetry or try to sell Viagra to you over the internet. They never call to tell you “there is something we need to talk about” or tell you to lay off the cheesecake because you have grown 3 inches. Goats do not remember the stupid things you said after too many much needed cocktails. Goats poo in public, consider grass a healthy meal, sit the sun and can sleep as much as they want.

Goats are cute, clever and curious creatures who tantalized me in the spring of 2003 when I was sad, numb and frustrated that people, myself included, could not understand me after a death in my family. I retreated to find a peaceful place to hide and by chance found Charlie Fenyvesi who made his love for goats come alive to me when I was not. Charlie would greet me at each visit to his farm with charm. He loves his goats. He gets a far away look when he speaks about his goats, describing in detail each one’s emotional well being, likes, dislikes, beautiful qualities and quirky needs. Love is something that you can forget about consciously and at the same time watch it in someone else and wish to be part of their unspoken understanding.

So I would sit, stand, crouch and watch the goats. I would study just their feet, or their eyes, or study how the light would change the color of their coats. During that time of quiet contemplation my mind was suspended and I could see the beauty of just that moment and relish it. I would look forward to being able to experience that moment and extend that moment into a photograph.

I could enter the goats’ field unchallenged, sit amongst them and while basking in the sun quietly, I got to know the goat’s unique personalities. The goats are not particularly Zen-like creatures. Smart and curious, they question and test everything in their environment, and are unfazed by any challenge to restrict their curiosity especially the pursuit of food! I admired this feisty spirit, which made them only more beautiful to photograph.

The photographs from this exhibit were taken during the spring and summer of 2003. They were my attempt create or re-create a peaceful place in my heart and mind. The photographs admire the beautiful in the feistiest of all the domesticated farm animals, the goat and take a closer look at the loveliness of vegetables.