With bagpipes, hai-coo poetry, and a dramatic curtain drop, Macalester welcomed its newest landmark on October 9: Coo, a monumental steel Highland cow created by world-renowned Scottish sculptor Andy Scott O.B.E.
The unveiling, held in front of the Leonard Center during Mac Fest, cemented the Highland coo’s legacy on campus two years after Macalester named it the college mascot. The twelve-foot tall sculpture was commissioned and gifted by The Justin and Jansel Kelly Family Foundation to honor the college’s faculty.
“Coo is a tribute to the life-changing impact of teaching at Mac and to the professors who provide a world-class education to our students,” President Suzanne Rivera said. “It’s fitting, then, for this symbol of their dedication, passion, and talent to be a permanent part of our campus.”
The reveal itself was an unusual feat. Unveiling ceremonies for Scott’s outsized works, which include The Kelpies, the 100-foot steel horse heads in Falkirk, Scotland, typically skip the curtain drop altogether. For Coo, technical director Tom Barrett and students from the Theater and Dance Department built a custom screen to conceal the bovine until the big moment. Despite a windy fall afternoon, it dropped without a hitch.
“Holy udders,” Donnie Brooks, associate vice president for Student Affairs and director of Athletics, exclaimed at the podium, welcoming a sculpture he said matches the Macalester temperament perfectly, “We’re welcoming. We’re grounded. And we do not back down.”
From sketch to steel
The path to Coo began just down Snelling Avenue. Dr. Bill McGuire, whose Minnesota United FC commissioned The Calling, Scott’s giant loon sculpture outside Allianz Field, connected the college with the artist. Scott sent over a single sketch, and Mac leaders greenlit the project.
Coo was built by hand in the artist’s Los Angeles studio over about six months—without the use of computer models. After creating a steel frame, the sculptor then meticulously added thousands of steel segments to bring Coo to life. “I basically start at one corner and weld and weld and weld until I get to the other end, and hopefully it looks like a cow,” he said. “Most of the time, luckily for me, it does.”
Early in the design phase, Scott made the choice to give Coo a bit of Scottish energy, opening her mouth to capture the bovine mid-bellow. “I love the idea that she’s shouting out, ‘I’m here.’”
He also chose corten steel, which rusts to a protective patina that echoes the Highland cow’s famous rusty coat, and, as it turns out, matches the brick of the Leonard Center. “I wish I could say that I knew it would match the building,” he says. “Pretend that I did.”
For the artist, who grew up on the south side of Glasgow, this new larger-than-life commission was uniquely personal. The request took him back two decades, to the day he brought his future wife and business partner, Hanneke, on a second date to a Highland cattle show.
“If you’d have told me then that some twenty-two years later I’d be standing at Macalester College in St. Paul unveiling a Highland coo,” Scott says, “I would have never believed you.”
Coming home to Mac
Coo arrived on campus in two distinct sections—the body and head—at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, October 7. Members of Mac’s facilities team then carefully assisted Scott to first lift Coo’s body into place. Once she found her footing, they then attached the head.
The install, which took two hours, went like clockwork. “I always say I learn a lot from the crane crews and facilities teams, and this process was a breeze,” says Scott.
Scott then spent the rest of the week at Macalester. He visited a sculpture class, had lunch with student artists and student-athletes, and gave an artist talk for community members as part of Mac Fest.
At the unveiling ceremony, studio art major Ash Granda-Bondurant ’27 told the crowd that they were “100 percent Team Loch Ness” during the 2024 mascot vote, but said this shaggier alternative was easy to celebrate. “Coo is a symbol of hardiness, community, and a little bit of stubborn charm.”
Dean of the faculty Tom Halverson accepted the gift on behalf of the faculty, which the sculpture honors. “It’s a bit transparent and a bit vulnerable. And like some of us, it has started to patina.”
At two and a half tons, Coo is a purposeful, sturdy gift to Mac, built to last for generations of Scots. But for all her hardy steel, Scott says Coo’s purpose is a much gentler one.
“Some artworks are full of deeper meaning. This is a simple, proud, bold statement. I hope she lifts your spirits. I hope she becomes a proud member of the Macalester campus.”
