As seen in the Novato Advance
www.novatoadvance.com
Cowgirls go bare for charity calendar
By Dan Stebbins/Executive Editor
DEANNA FAINELLI/ADVANCE
Nandee Soule models discreetly in a stable scene
for photographer Kim Vogee. Soule is the model for June
in the 2005 calendar.
A dozen
area horsewomen have put their 40-year-plus bodies
on the line in a grin-and-bare-it calendar project
to raise money for local charities. Think of the
recent movie “Calendar Girls.”
The gals with equine companions have produced a 2005
calendar, which is available next weekend for
purchase at several Novato businesses and online.
All American Printing of Novato has run off 1,500
copies and the Cowgirl Foundation, formed to earmark
proceeds for charity, expects to make $30,000 on the
first printing with a second printing timed to the
holidays.
Photographer Kim Vogee, who headed up the project,
says proceeds from the calendar will benefit art and
music in Novato schools, the Marin Abused Women’s
Services and the Marin Breast Cancer Council. The
Marin Women’s Foundation kicked in funds to get the
project started thanks to Kim Patrini of Circle
Bank.
Naturally, the local women featured in the black and
white photographs, are cleverly covered with horsey
paraphernalia. A water trough hides some secret
parts and saddles and tack shield others. The
calendar is a tease, but it’s all in fun. The only
nay sayers may be the neigh sayers...we’re talking
horses here.
Vogee says she got the idea for the calendar when
her cousin in Virginia sent her a similar calendar
titled “Men of Rappahannock County.” The men in the
buff were discretely covered, she says. The calendar
raised a substantial amount for local schools.
Vogee said her proposal for a Novato calendar along
the same lines drew initial skepticism. She began to
recruit volunteers, but she finally realized that to
“get the idea rolling” she had to poise in the nude
herself.
That apparently broke the ice. “Those who initially
said ‘no way,’ were calling to be part of the
calendar,” Vogee said.
The calendars will be sold for $20 each at Circle
Bank, Express Photo and the Center for Cooperative
Healing in Novato. They are also available on line
at cowgirlsfoundation.org or by calling
415-892-5408. Vogee said she welcomes calls from
other businesses or organizations willing to sell
the calendar, posters and note pads.
