From Federal Reserve Bank Region Focus, Summer 2001
Art Around the Town
By Betty Joyce Nash
Giant fish are swimming the summer streets of Baltimore and Richmond, Va., and five-foot steel roses are blossoming in Orangeburg, S.C. These mammoth objets d'art follow in the wake of Norfolk, Va.'s waving mermaids, Columbia, S.C.'s steel palmetto trees, and 28 of Chicago's fiberglass cows that vacationed in Beaufort, S.C., last summer.
Fifth District artists, downtown boosters, nonprofits, and businesses have joined the nation in celebrating the creative spirit. Inspired by Chicago's "Cows on Parade" in 1999, regional cities are playfully matching public art images to urban settings.
Richmond launched its "Go Fish!" project in May with the release of about 200 rockfish in the downtown area, including the Canal Walk along the James River. The five-foot-long fishes, constructed of resin and burlap, are embellished by local artists and sponsored by businesses and nonprofit organizations. Some of the sights include "Fish and Chips" and an Egyptian-style "Aten Ra-K-Fish."
Fish sponsors paid between $500 for a single fish and $10,000 for a "school." The creations will be auctioned off this fall and the proceeds shared with schools and nonprofit organizations. "It will benefit the communities tremendously," says Peter Calvert, director of 1708 Gallery, whose board member Susan Jamieson cast the notion and helped reel it in.
The idea is to bless downtown with art and goodwill. And the project's timing commemorates the resurgence of rockfish, also known as striped bass, in the James River. After plummeting to historic lows in the 1980s, the rockfish population began to recover in the early 1990s as a result of a decade-long restocking effort, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The department, by the way, has sponsored two fish in the "Go Fish!" celebration.
The project "will allow a lot of people to create art and celebrate the city, the diversity of organizations, and [the] energy within the city and do it out in a public forum," Calvert says.
Throughout the Fifth District, the auctioning of these works also raises funds for local art projects and community programs. Baltimore's "Fish Out of Water" project, which debuted in April, eventually will be used to raise money for local youth programs. The Walters Art Museum plans to auction off the fish in November.
So far, the auction of 100 of Norfolk's 120 mermaids has raised $225,000 for the Norfolk Commission for the Arts. The project's revenues are still rolling in with the continued purchase of mermaid memorabilia.
And in Columbia, S.C., the nearly 10-foot-tall steel palmettos have netted $190,000. The funds are expected to nurture permanent public art displays for the Columbia area, according to Tracy Jones, special project coordinator for the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington counties.
Beaufort, S.C., wanted its share of the fun but didn't think it could support a large-scale project of its own. So it invited Chicago's cows to summer there last year.
"We're fairly rural, and I thought after being so famous in Chicago, maybe they wanted to go on vacation," says Eric Holowacz, executive director of the Arts Council of Beaufort County.
The arts council raised enough money to cover the cattle drive and to insure the cows. Chicago even sent Beaufort a complimentary keepsake cow, nicknamed "Cowolina." A different organization or artist redecorates the cow every few months. This past spring, for instance, the cow grazed the campus of Beaufort Elementary School. Its theme: "Got Art?"
The Beaufort cow collection generated so much excitement about public art that Holowacz would like to host a few of Cincinnati, Ohio's fiberglass pigs. "I think we're going to have a big pig gig," Holowacz says. "We will definitely have a big barbecue at the opening."
By Betty Joyce Nash
Giant fish are swimming the summer streets of Baltimore and Richmond, Va., and five-foot steel roses are blossoming in Orangeburg, S.C. These mammoth objets d'art follow in the wake of Norfolk, Va.'s waving mermaids, Columbia, S.C.'s steel palmetto trees, and 28 of Chicago's fiberglass cows that vacationed in Beaufort, S.C., last summer.
Fifth District artists, downtown boosters, nonprofits, and businesses have joined the nation in celebrating the creative spirit. Inspired by Chicago's "Cows on Parade" in 1999, regional cities are playfully matching public art images to urban settings.
Richmond launched its "Go Fish!" project in May with the release of about 200 rockfish in the downtown area, including the Canal Walk along the James River. The five-foot-long fishes, constructed of resin and burlap, are embellished by local artists and sponsored by businesses and nonprofit organizations. Some of the sights include "Fish and Chips" and an Egyptian-style "Aten Ra-K-Fish."
Fish sponsors paid between $500 for a single fish and $10,000 for a "school." The creations will be auctioned off this fall and the proceeds shared with schools and nonprofit organizations. "It will benefit the communities tremendously," says Peter Calvert, director of 1708 Gallery, whose board member Susan Jamieson cast the notion and helped reel it in.
The idea is to bless downtown with art and goodwill. And the project's timing commemorates the resurgence of rockfish, also known as striped bass, in the James River. After plummeting to historic lows in the 1980s, the rockfish population began to recover in the early 1990s as a result of a decade-long restocking effort, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The department, by the way, has sponsored two fish in the "Go Fish!" celebration.
The project "will allow a lot of people to create art and celebrate the city, the diversity of organizations, and [the] energy within the city and do it out in a public forum," Calvert says.
Throughout the Fifth District, the auctioning of these works also raises funds for local art projects and community programs. Baltimore's "Fish Out of Water" project, which debuted in April, eventually will be used to raise money for local youth programs. The Walters Art Museum plans to auction off the fish in November.
So far, the auction of 100 of Norfolk's 120 mermaids has raised $225,000 for the Norfolk Commission for the Arts. The project's revenues are still rolling in with the continued purchase of mermaid memorabilia.
And in Columbia, S.C., the nearly 10-foot-tall steel palmettos have netted $190,000. The funds are expected to nurture permanent public art displays for the Columbia area, according to Tracy Jones, special project coordinator for the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington counties.
Beaufort, S.C., wanted its share of the fun but didn't think it could support a large-scale project of its own. So it invited Chicago's cows to summer there last year.
"We're fairly rural, and I thought after being so famous in Chicago, maybe they wanted to go on vacation," says Eric Holowacz, executive director of the Arts Council of Beaufort County.
The arts council raised enough money to cover the cattle drive and to insure the cows. Chicago even sent Beaufort a complimentary keepsake cow, nicknamed "Cowolina." A different organization or artist redecorates the cow every few months. This past spring, for instance, the cow grazed the campus of Beaufort Elementary School. Its theme: "Got Art?"
The Beaufort cow collection generated so much excitement about public art that Holowacz would like to host a few of Cincinnati, Ohio's fiberglass pigs. "I think we're going to have a big pig gig," Holowacz says. "We will definitely have a big barbecue at the opening."