Eagles in the City
byTwo years ago Vancouver was overrun with Spirit Bears on almost ever street corner.
Batman, Darth Vader, and Brent Butt were some of the themes for these posed monuments that, once auctioned off at the end of the campaign, helped raise over half a million dollars for the BC Lions Society Easter Seals.
They were removed from their stations throughout the city and then placed wherever the highest bidder deemed worthy – in front of an office building or even GM Place. Before there were bears we had the orcas… that sort of looked more like dolphins.
baseballart on FlickrComing next year from April 2009 until April 2010 the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Price George will have Eagles in the City.
Local artists, in partnership with sponsoring individuals or organizations, will create a unique design and apply it to the surface of a 7.5 foot custom formed fibreglass Bald Eagle. The Bald Eagle becomes the artist’s canvas. Once the work is complete, the Bald Eagle will be displayed in prominent public spaces around the participating cities. A ‘Bald Eagle Flight Path Map’ will be created and distributed throughout participating communities showing the location, sponsor and artist of every bald eagle. [Eagles in the City]
Despite the fact that many people became annoyed with the orcas and moreso the bears, the money raised does go to a good cause. Eagles in the city will benefit the BC Lions Society Easter Seals as well at the Canucks for Kids Fund. You can also check out a list of artists who will be painting and decorating the eagle, on the Eagles in the City website.
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I was going to ask ‘Why Eagles’ but apparently:
Every winter from November to February literally thousands of Bald Eagles arrive to migrate on the West Coast of British Columbia to feast on Salmon on the banks of our rivers and tributaries. The Bald Eagle makes a statement of strength, striking appearance, grace and personifies freedom.
I think they can be pretty interesting. They aren’t all over the place so its not much of an eye-sore. And besides they are for raising money. I just don’t want to see/hear the statues are in the garbage or something.
Though I wonder if they moved them out of the downtown core so that people who go looking for them might find them in the surrounding local communities (might help with tourism in some places?) Seeing an Eagle in Pitt Meadows I think would be ok (have photos of perched eagles among other photos of birds of prey) but I guess seeing an Orca in Pitt Meadows would be a bit silly?
I don’t understand why people were annoyed with them. Perhaps in downtown, there were a few too many, and they were too commercial this time, but I enjoyed them. I made sites/galleries dedicated to the the 2 other projects. I probably won’t this time, but it was fun running around the city trying to find the whales and bears.
I don’t know about everybody else, but doesn’t this begin to feel a bit like me-too tourist marketing? I remember in several cities it was cows, in Baltimore it was crabs, in Cincinnati, it was pigs…
If nothing else, this new semi-tradition of ‘Variations on’ jumped the shark years ago for me. Or killer whale or something.
Not this again… I understand the concept behind it but can we at least give a few years of rest before we start again? I mean why don’t we just keep one animal? Berlin has the bears, Prague has the cows, Hamburg has the bucket carry guy… I don’t see them changing their statue every 2 years.
Aesthetically, the bears bugged me. I wasn’t around when orcas/dolphins abound in the city and to me they were a bit prettier. The bears looked amorphous and thereby freaky.
oy. AGAIN? why? i don’t get it. i’d love it if we could have ONE theme, stick with it and just keep ONE kinda animal. this looks very “we can’t decide what to stick with so the theme will be BC Animals!!” to me. sigh. great. more random “art”.
(i know, bitter much? 😉 )
I liked the orcas/dolphins 😉