Pandamania,One of 150 artists, I was selected to take part in a city-wide art project organized by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 2004. The theme was a celebration of the giant pandas which reside at our National Zoo and attract more than a million visitors annually. Participating artists were selected on the basis of designs they had submitted, which were to be painted on a large sculptural form of the popular animal. My own proposal was called "Will You Miss Us", on which I painted images of 19 endangered species, the giant panda among them. Once completed, the 150 decorated pandas were displayed around the city during the spring and summer of 2004, after which they were auctioned off to raise money for the Commission's promotional activities. The DC Arts Commission decided to keep my panda for display at their headquarters, rather than auction it off. |