Herky on Parade 2024: A Prologue

 A couple months ago I applied for a call to artists for the 75th birthday of the University of Iowa's mascot, Herky. 2024 marks the third round of statues - and this round will be creating 75 more sculptures! The first Herky on Parade sculptures were placed in 2004.

Unfortunately, I can't give many details until the public reveal of the new sculptures on May 1st, 2024. I'm not even allowed to share my design on paper. But I what can tell you is that I am one of the chosen artists for the project! 

I'm keeping track a record of my time and taking progress shots (I forgot to do this while I was working on my lighthouse) so I can write a blog post later on giving all the details!

Me and my Herky!

I can also tell you that Herky is a big guy! He's taller than I am, although if I'm honest that's no great feat. He's about 6 feet tall and about 4 feet wide elbow-to-elbow. 

It's a horde of... Is it Herkys or Herkies?

I picked him up in our minivan, which turned out to be over 8 hours of driving. It was also two days after a 48-hour blizzard that covered the whole state in heaps of snow, coupled with sub-zero temperatures. The interstate looked like a warzone; in one quarter-mile I counted 13 vehicles in the ditch. Most of the wrecks were mangled up semi trucks. It was scary to see, even days later.

Just me in a van with a body in the back, no biggie.

Herky and I finally made it home, and Jon was volun-told to help me bring the big man inside. When I was painting my lighthouse, I was able to just work in our garage (which was lucky, because I don't think the round bottom of the lighthouse would have fit through the door.) That wasn't going to be an option this time due to the cold temps, so Herky has to live in my studio for the next two months. 

Don't judge my mess, I need a certain amount of chaos for proper creation!

As you can see, Herky takes up most of the room. There's no door on my studio, as we love the daylight that streams in from the sliding glass doors that take up one whole wall of the room. I do have a short flexible gate though, as a psychological barrier to keep children out. 

Anyway, every time I walk by, which is often because my studio is centrally located in our house, out of the corner of my eye I see Herky standing in there and it startles me! Even knowing that he's there, he still gets me. It's going to be a relief when he's finally finished and out of the house.

... And that pretty much covers what I'm allowed to say at this point. My girls love talking about Herky (yesterday they kept asking me if I was going to paint his butt.) They would be a lot more excited if I let them climb all over him, but I hope someday when they are older they will be proud of their mama for more than just toasters. 

For (some) more information, you can follow Herky on Parade on Facebook, plus there is a website that details the project.