“The arts have an incredible potential for expanding interconnectedness, for reaching people, touch them, and increasing empathy and compassion in the world.” – Olafur Eliasson
The challenge this is week to feature public art that we enjoyed seeing. My husband and I often travel to Boston, MA, visiting the museums, exploring the City’s well-known history, plus the occasional Red Sox game. To me, Boston is one of those cities where my camera is always ready because there is so much to photograph! When we were there in 2006 Boston was hosting a citywide Cow Parade. Since our challenge for this week is to feature public art in all of its forms and locations, I thought it would be fun to share photos of a few of the decorative cows on display in Back Bay, Prudential Center, Boston Marriott Copley Place and Faneuil Hall Marketplace plus any other public space large enough to accommodate their size!
What is a Cow Parade and what is its purpose? The Boston Cow Parade was made up of 117 life-size fiberglass cows. Each one creatively designed by a well-known artist and later sold at a fund raising auction. About $353,000 was raised, all of which went to The Jimmy Fund to help in their fight against cancer. (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.)
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” – Steve Job
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It was impressive to see these cows up close, each theme was unique and creatively presented but if I have to narrow it down to my favorites, the three I would pick are the lady cow with the sweeping eyelashes, long dangling earrings and stylist shoes (1-right). The whimsical “ice cream” cow (7-left) other side of this cow is (3-right). And finally, the cow breaking through the framed painting (5-left).
By chance, did you see a couple of favorites?
As a side note: The artist of the Chilies Con Carne cow on Newbury Street (8-left) and his step-by-step work was featured in an article by Christiane Corcelle. Click here to read it.
At auction, most cows yielded $3,000 to $6,000 apiece. Although the highest bid cow sold for $50,000 and the second highest bid of the night, $25,000, paid for “COW!,” a pop art Lichtenstein-inspired design by Joanne Kaliontzis. And, “Bonnie Cow” by Rebecca P. Manos, covered in seashells and colorful sea glass, went for $10,000 (4-left). Click here to read the article in the Boston Daily Free Press Newspaper.
Hope you enjoyed seeing these unique cows! John of photobyjohnbo selected this fun topic so be sure to check out his post by clicking here!
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine they see all day.” – Catherine Pulsifer