Artwork is not always popular when it's new. An artist can create an artwork that becomes an icon, or a symbol for an entire city.

Did you know how flying pigs became a symbol for Cincinnati? It began with an artist named Andrew Leicester. To celebrate Cincinnati's 200th birthday in 1988, there was a contest for artists to create sculptures for a new park called Bicentennial Commons. The sculptures had to tell something about the history of Cincinnati. Andrew Leicester discovered that during the late 1800's Cincinnati was the number one producer of salt pork in the country. Salt pork was a very important food back then because it didn't need refrigeration. In fact, Cincinnati was nicknamed "Porkopolis" because of all the pork meatpacking businesses downtown. PIgs acutally used to run through the streets. Cincinnati became a successful city because Ohio river was used to send the salt pork to other cities.

Mr. Leicester said his sculpture of four flying pigs represented the "angelic spirits" of all of the pigs who died so Cincinnati could become a prosperous city and so people could eat a convenient source of protein. He put the pigs on top of poles that resemble the smokestacks of the riverboats that carried the salt pork to other cities.

At first, this was not a popular sculpture. People thought the flying pigs were silly or ugly and that other cities would make fun of Cincinnati for having flying pigs in their new park. There was even a meeting where city council voted on whether to let the sculpture stay or to have it removed. The pig supporters won. Slowly people came to accept the pigs, and by 2000 when the Big Pig Gig event happened, everyone seemed to love the idea of pigs in Cincinnati, with or without wings! Now flying pigs are a symbol of Cincinnati that we are proud to show everyone. The Flying Pig Marathon was named after the Sawyer Point flying pig sculptures. One of our teachers saw Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon T-shirts for sale in the Bahama Islands, because the shop owner thought the idea of flying pigs was so cool! He didn't even know where Cincinnati was, but he liked our marathon's name.

The idea for the Big Pig Gig came from a show of life-size cow sculptures in Chicago in 1999 which were decorated by artists and sold to raise money for charity. People in Cincinnati wanted to do the same thing with pigs, so artists all over Cincinnati sent in their ideas for painting different types of outfits on pig sculptures. Mason High School art students made two pigs. All the pigs were displayed in the downtown area during the summer of 2000, and were auctioned to the highest bidders in the fall. We don't know who bought the Mason High School pigs. The event raised over $839,000.00 for charities to help people. One pig sold for $37,000.00! You can look at these pigs at www.bigpiggig.com.

To reinforce the study of Ohio history in fourth grade, we celebrate Cincinnati history in art class by making our own "Little Pig Gig" pigs from 2-liter pop bottles and toilet paper rolls. We need lots of pop bottles (some we can't use because they dent too easily) and lots of toilet paper rolls. Students tape all the pig parts together and use papier mache (glue and newspaper) to cover the sculpture. Then they paint the pigs and glue things on for accessories.

Note to Parents

About the papier mache paste: it's a methylcellulose powder (Art Paste) that's ordered from an art supply catalog and mixed with water. Occasionally a student's hands will itch while using the paste (often because of dry skin). When that happens, Ms. Moschell provides latex gloves or wheat paste, which doesn't stick quite as well as Art Paste. You can make papier mache paste at home by watering down white school glue, or by mixing water and flour.

You can help by assisting your child in coming up with an exciting idea for a pig. Think of the pig dressed up "as" something or someone that your child likes. This is the most important part of the project. A Bengals fan might make a football playing pig, or child who dances may make a ballerina. Whether it's Spongebob, Harry Potter, the Statue of Liberty, or Elvis, the ideas are endless and a great deal of fun to brainstorm around the dinner table. Ms. Moschell divides the classes, with the Wed. afternoon, Thursday and Friday students making their pigs first for 9 weeks, then the other classes make theirs, because we have space for only 400 pigs in the art room at a time. If your child says that others are making pigs, but he or she isn't yet, rest assured that your child's time will come!

You can also help by sending 2-liter bottles, plastic eggs, empty toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls in to school with your child, please!

Your child may want to look around the house for things that can be made into accessories for the pig, for example, what could be used to make Lady Liberty's torch? Most accessories are made of cardboard, pipe cleaners, and you'd be amazed at how many plastic eggs we use for baseball hats, footballs, and rockets! Ms. Moschell encourages students to make everything, rather than insist their parents buy ready-made doll accessories, but each family can decide this for themselves. The pig project takes a total of 9 weeks, which allows for the majority of students to finish if they work consistently during class. If you want to help your child to make some of the accessories at home, but you can't decide how to make, for example, an electric guitar and amp, feel free to contact Ms. Mo by e-mail or phone.

The District Art Show is an exciting springtime event where the art teachers feature artwork from grades K to 12. The highlight of the show is the 4th Grade Pigpen, which contains two pigs from each class. The pigs are chosen by the students in the class; each student gets to vote for two pigs by dropping poker chips into white plastic containers, which prevent them from seeing how many votes the pigs are getting. They may vote for their own pig, but only once. Ms. Moschell feels that this is the fairest way to select the pigs for the show, and great care is taken to avoid hurt feelings during the voting process. We wish we could bring every pig to the show!

Learn more about the Pigs at
www.bigpiggig.com

Andrew Leicester's
flying pig sculpture

This pig was made by Mason High School students

4th grade pigs