Amarillo artist, Dale Johns, painter of 4-H's ‘Centennial' horse, puts the finishing touches on the statue slated for dedication at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center to help mark more than a century of programs designed to empower young people to grow, prosper and have fun.
AMARILLO- A horse is a horse, of course, or is it?
From a distance, this equine’s silhouette looks about like any other horse.
But this one is one special specimen, according to Angela Burkham, Texas Cooperative Extension 4-H and Youth Program specialist in the Panhandle.
On Tuesday, near the entrance of the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center located at 6500 Amarillo Boulevard West, a reception and formal dedication ceremony will officially unveil a horse called Centennial.’
The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Center classroom with formal dedication and recognition ceremony at 10 a.m. Members of the 4-H District 1 Council and leadership group will conduct the program.
“The horse is about to become part of the national and state 4-H 100th year celebrations,” Burkham said. The national centennial kicked off in 2002. The state’s 100th birthday party is just around the corner.
Club members from across the Panhandle, accompanied by their adult volunteer leaders, parents, and county Extension agents will see the horse for the first time. The event will bring in the state’s 4-H program director, Dr. Martha Couch of College Station, as well as other state and regional A&M System officials and partners.
Honorees will include the installation artist, Dale Johns of Amarillo, and the donors and supporters who helped fund the project from private donations and in-kind contributions. Also recognized will be officials with the American Quarter Horse Association and the Center City Hoof Prints’ community-wide public art program launched by AQHA.
Centennial’ joins a remuda of 55 other painted concrete horses now roaming the city near storefronts, a skyscraper or two, and now the A&M Center. The monument stands nearly 15 hands high on its concrete foundation and commemorates a program that has been helping kids transform themselves and their communities through learning.
Burkham said Johns’ artistry and interpretation of 4-H history has blanketed the horse with recognizable symbols ranging from the earliest tomato club to today’s young ambassadors making their way to the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. The projects, contests, club activities and fun are all there. Johns has completed five other horses stationed around the city, including one near his own business on Amarillo’s famed 6th Street entrance.
“Word about the horse is running like the wind in 4-H circles, too,” said Burkham, who rounded up clubs in the Panhandle’s 21-county district to submit ideas, drawings, photos, and rocksyes, rocks to the project.
“We asked each county to ride in with a good-sized stone intended for the landscaping that nudges up near the statue’s base,” said Burkham, who also credits Extension’s Master Gardener Program in Potter and Randall counties with a key role in developing the overall design for the site.
“They adopted Centennial’ and incorporated the statue right into the Center’s new demonstration gardens.”
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