PORT TOWNSEND – An artist known for his giant articulated puppets and bright-colored paper lanterns is branching out into a new field – pigs.
This year, Seattle’s “Pigs on Parade” will feature two porcine creations by Thaddeus Jurczynski.
A fundraiser for the Pike Place Market Foundation, 100 artistic versions of Rachel, the famous Pike Place Market piggy bank, will be on display in Seattle this summer to celebrate the market’s centennial, then auctioned off.
“I’m really excited to be a part of this project,” Jurcynski said.
“This is what celebration artists do in the off season.”
Jurcynski’s past creations include the dragon in the Port Townsend Library children’s area and the mermaid that hangs on the ceiling outside of Sirens.
He also founded the local Chinese New Year lantern festival and travels in the Northwest and Asia creating portable sculptures for community parades.
But he had never submitted a proposal for this type of project, he said.
“It was definitely outside of my comfort zone,” he said.
“I’m more of a sculptor than a painter or drawer. I’m glad the other components worked out so well.”
Similar to Chicago’s “Cows on Parade” and the Northwest “Soul Salmon,” Pigs on Parade gives artists “blanks” – 50-pound pigs made of fiberglass – that they transform, usually with paint.
Zebra striped pigs and checkerboard pigs are past examples, Jurczynski said.
He submitted his proposals with the help of his daughter, Nina.
“My drawings are more like stick pigs,” he said.
He was awarded two commissions, for which he will receive $1,000 each plus up to $500 for materials, Jurczynski said.
