Get Along Little Dogies

Clara McDonald Williamson

1945

Oil on masonite

Dallas Museum of Art

"To prevent the little orphan calves from falling behind and getting lost from the herd the Cow-boys would often gently prod them along; all the while singing and talking to them in the typical and amusing cow-boy dialect," wrote Clara Williamson, a largely self-taught artist born and raised in Iredell, Texas. A cattle drive along the Chisholm Trail, the route of the cattle drives between Texas and Abilene, Kansas, between 1867 and 1884, forms the basis of a "memory picture" for "Aunt Clara," as the artist was affectionately called by the Dallas art community. Williamson began her first art class at Southern Methodist University in