A second sculpture by Renick, Self-Portrait: She Became What She Beheld, is on display in front of the Triceracopter. This sculpture is a body cast of the artist sitting on a chair, dressed in work clothing and holding a small concept model of the larger work. Instead of the expected life-size human head, Patricia Renick has portrayed herself with the head of her progeny, Triceracopter.

Patricia A. Renick taught at the University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture and Art for 31 years and won the International Sculpture Center’s 2003 Outstanding Sculpture Educator Award. Like many talented women of her generation, Renick was encouraged to become an art teacher. The prospect of becoming a “real” artist did not unfold until she was 40.

Among her most famous works were large-scale sculptures made from a VW Beetle and a U.S. Army helicopter, titled respectively, Stegowagenvolksaurus and Triceracopter: The Hope for the Obsolescence of War. Her works had been shown at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Contemporary Arts Center.