Pen-Elayne on the Web

Animal Statues in My Soup

Via Pandagon (where else?), this item about Washington DC gearing up for the public art contest/display PandaMania, sponsored by PartyAnimals, which did much the same thing two years ago with elephant and donkey statues. (Update: It made Ana Marie Cox's Wonkette blog too, complete with a picture.) I confess, I rather like these public art shows; NYC was one of the cities taking part in the CowParade a few years back (although I seem to have missed last year's DOGNY entirely), and when Robin and I visited Toronto in 2000 the Moose in the City display was in full force. I must imagine other cities have done this sort of thing - for instance, I found sites for NC State U's Red Wolf Ramble and Cedar Rapids' Overalls All Over (okay, Grant Wood's "American Gothic" couple aren't technically animals but it's the same idea). But not everyone thinks "the new civic art craze" is a good thing, and some term it "more public relations than public art." But certain specialty manufacturers are very happy, like FiberStock Inc. which publicizes at least four civic art animal projects here.