“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
Thank you so much Spark, the artists who painted the cows did such a remarkable job! Glad you visited my post and left a comment!
Thank you PR, must admit it was fun looking at these cows again in my archives and marvel at how skillful these artists are!
Artists done a great job. A nice step to display the expressions of colors and art combination. Eye-catching arts.
Superb collection 😀
Donna, am so happy you enjoyed this post and that it brought back good memories! It was wonderful your cousin was selected to design a cow, what an honor. The cows I was able to get close to were awesome, a lot of thought and hard work went into designing each one and for such a good cause.
I love both Boston and the closer look at the cow parade. I wanted to pick a favorite. I can’t. They are such a work of art. My cousin, quite a few years ago, was selected to do one. She lives in Jamaica Plains. It was such a highlight for her. I enjoyed this for so many reasons Sylvia.
Thank you so much Anne, so glad you enjoyed it!😊
Simply fabulous Sylvia! Fun post.
OMG! Should they ever connect I can only image the verbal exchanges back and forth…. What fun to be able to listen in!
He’d love all my brothers – Yankee fanatics all!
Thank you so much John! Your niece might also enjoy to seeing all the cows featured on this website in 2006: http://www.bobspixels.com/CowParade/ I bet the bison themed exhibit is pretty impressive also.
Thank you Beth, they were awsome to see in person!
LOL Tina, I thought about you and your husband and your love for the Red Sox when I was organizing this post! And, I know you can image how excited I was to get Walley’s picture at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. On another note; Tina meet Rob Pond, my Maryland son who has always loved the NY Yankees!! 😥
Rob, I am so happy you left a comment and delighted you enjoyed seeing the Cow Parade!! xoxo As a matter of fact if you are interested – pictures of all 117 cows in their Boston locations (2006) are shown on this website: http://www.bobspixels.com/CowParade/
I love all of these cows. I have a niece that will be thrilled to see them. She’s always posting cow-related images on her Facebook page. Fargo has a similar theme with bison (since the local college is the NDSU Bison.)
Terrific idea for the challenge Sylvia. Loved them all and what a great idea for fund-raising. I must admit I’m partial to the Red Sox versions!!
This is great! I had no idea this occurred, but what a great way to add some artistic expression in a “way out of the box medium” for the public to enjoy and then auction them off for a great cause.
I love these cows!