Downtown Seattle has gone to the pigs, thanks to a cadre of local artists and sponsors. The 100 painted pigs dotting the city commemorate Pike Place Market's 100th anniversary. Green Lake artist Doug Keith created two of the pigs.
Paul Allen's Vulcan company sponsored one of Keith's designs, a pig painted like a football and wryly named "Pig's Kin." Local philanthropists Bill Block and Sue Leavitt sponsored Keith's second design, a swashbuckling pig holding a cutlass in its snout and named the "Pirate of Pigzance."
"I was kind of frantically looking for ideas, because I found out about it late in the process," Keith said. "So I was looking for simple designs."
Keith's designs worked, as both of his submissions were picked up by patrons.
THE ORIGINAL.
The 6-foot-long fiberglass pigs are part of Pigs on Parade, an effort by the foundation to raise money for the market's continued preservation. The first Pigs on Parade appeared in 2001 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the vote to save the market from the wrecking ball in 1971.
The original pig - a giant piggy bank named Rachel - still stands in the Pike Place Market, where she has collected more than $120,000 in donations over the last 21 years, according to the Pigs on Parade website. The money goes to pay for services for low-income people.
ARTIST OF MANY TALENTS
Keith is a children's book illustrator by profession, who uses a converted garage as a studio. However, this wasn't his first foray into public art.
In recent years, he has created three nutcrackers for the Downtown Seattle Association. Each displayed the same playful sense of humor that Keith incorporated into his pigs.
There was "Nightcracker" painted to resemble a night seen with DayGlo stars; "Dark Side of the Nutcracker," which was inspired by the Pink Floyd album; and "Nutcracker Baseball: Now and Then," half of which was painted to look like an old-style, baggy, wool uniform, and the other half painted to look like a contemporary tighter-fitting baseball uniform.
Keith created one of the carousel ponies that lined downtown streets during winter 2004. His contribution, "Rockin' Horse," was covered with a pattern of electric guitars.
Public art offers a chance to be more involved in the art community, Keith said, as some don't see commercial artists as true artists.
"It's all art, you know," Keith said.
Keith studied art at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts in New Jersey. He moved to Seattle in 1979 and worked for a few years as a graphic artist.
In 1983 he began illustrating children's books, including "Something Special," which won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Book Publisher's Association. Other award-winning books include "What If..." and "The Errant Knight."
As an illustrator, Keith works in watercolor. "I don't think anything is ever going to replace getting your hands in paint," he said.
The pigs will be up for auction on Oct. 12. For more information about Pigs On Parade, go on-line to www. pigsonparade.org.
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