An Idea Whose Time May Have Come and Gone

In the summer of 1999, "Cows on Parade" made its American debut in Chicago. Three hundred life-size bovine figures, decorated by local artists, went on display in parks, along streets, and in neighborhoods of Chicago. The phenomenon was inspired by a similar exhibition of painted fiberglass lions in Zurich in 1986.

Photo: Chicago Traveler

After its introduction in Chicago, there was a flurry of interest--in this country, as well as in Europe and South America--in fiberglass animal figures painted by local artists displayed on streets and in parks as a form of public art, to attract tourists and to raise money for various causes when the exhibition was over and the figures were auctioned off. Typically, the animals chosen had some connection with the municipality, although the connection wasn't always obvious to all.

In the summer of 2000, Grand Rapids, Michigan, imitated Chicago's "Cows on Parade" to promote the city's newly renovated John Ball Zoo. Four-foot-tall fiberglass rabbits, decorated by local artists, were installed throughout the zoo. The choice of rabbits--and the installation's title, "Grand Rabbits"--was a linguistic joke. In that part of Michigan, rapids is often pronounced so that it sounds like rabbits. It seems, though, that the rapids/rabbits joke was lost on many local people.

The relevance of the animal to the location has been more obvious in places closer to home. In 2002 and again in 2007, Saratoga Springs (where the famous racetrack is) had installations of decorated life-size fiberglass horses. Every summer since 2007, Catskill has done its annual "Cat'n Around Catskill" installation, which is now celebrating its tenth year.

Photo: Heart of Catskill

In 2008 and 2009, the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce tried to get Hudson in on the fiberglass animals as public art craze with dogs--an animal chosen for no better reason than that Catskill had cats, so Hudson, on the other side of the river, could have dogs. (I seem to recall hearing at the time that fiberglass whale figures either were not available or did not have a very appealing shape.)

Photos: Plans for Pups

The Hudson dog installation, called "Best in Show," was a great success in 2008, despite a few of the dogs being damaged by vandals, and the auction when the exhibition was over made a lot of money for the not-for-profits that were the chosen recipients that year. The next year, the enthusiasm seemed over, and "Best in Show" wasn't continued. You can still see some of the dogs around town, though. There's one at Mexican Radio.

Now, seven years after the second and last "Best in Show," John Porreca, former Hudson resident and former Greenport supervisor, wants to bring this form of public art back--but with whales instead of dogs. He sent a letter proposing the idea to the Common Council Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee, which Rick Rector, who chairs the committee, read aloud last Wednesday at the committee's meeting. Porreca argued that whales would be a "history lesson on when the city was once active as a whaling port." He suggested that the whales might be painted to replicate the various whale species, thus making the installation not only a history lesson but also a lesson in cetology.

Since the debut of the fiberglass figure as public art in 1999, at least three companies have grown up to fill the demand for fiberglass objects of all shapes and sizes. One of them--Chicago Fiberglass Works--even has a whale figure, which was commissioned last year for "Splishin' and Splashin': Art Bubbling Up in St. Joseph [Michigan]." 

Photo: Chicago Fiberglass Works 

Forget quirky, original, and authentic. Hudson could be one of the hundreds of other American cities with painted fiberglass figures as public art on its streets in summer.
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