Dolphins on parade
My former colleagues from The Company are bound to be familiar with Norfolk's ubiquitous "Mermaids on Parade" mermaid sculptures, one of which is shown at right. (You'd have to be blind to live or work in downtown Norfolk and not have seen dozens of them.)
But have you seen the dolphins? Those of you who scattered around the country and beyond in the wake of the layoffs probably have not.
Last summer, a Virginia Beach non-profit called "A Dolphin's Promise" started selling sponsorships for lifesize fiberglass dolphin sculptures to raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. While they're nowhere near as widespread yet as the mermaids, this one recently appeared near the entrance to my current employer's parking lot (our CEO is a sponsor). I'm told that the artwirk depicts the oceanfront skyline (i.e., hotels).
That was a few weeks ago. Then, a couple weeks ago, I noticed when I drove in to work one morning that something looked odd about the dolphin's ass end (which was the first thing you saw when you drove in). Turned out to be red and white stripes on this new dolphin that replaced the other one. Yes, it's now facing the other way; it got turned around a week after it was installed.
Apparently, the CEO sponsored two dolphins, and decided to have this one at the office and the other one in his front yard. Unlike the first one, the replacement has a name, on that little white sign on the pole: "Freedom Rising". The artist, according to the sign, is named Violet Rose Gold.
Just thought you former denizens of the Beach might be interested in seeing VB's answer to the mermaids.
4 comments:
I don't think these people realize that most cities actually don't have stuff like this. And we get by okay.
This kind of mindset is not peculiar to Hampton Roads. It's exactly the sort of thing that the residents of Ithaca (NY) would go for. In fact, I'm surprised they don't already have some kind of signature sculptures.
I'll lay odds that if I presented the notion to the right people up there, with photos of the mermaids and dolphins here, they'd be scrambling to come up with something uniquely Ithacan.
St. Paul, MN was, I think, the first to do this years ago when they put Snoopy all over the city. (It was the birthplace of Charles Schultz.) I think it's fun and I wish more cities would do it.
I am one of the artists that painted some of the dolphins for Dolphins Promise and I think its a wonderful program. More and more are being created each day. I currently have one sitting in my garage that I am painting...and I should have it done by Memorial Day weekend. I'm glad you all enjoy the sculptures!!
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