Art for the common folk

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to write about this week, considering it’s the last issue (and the last real week) of the semester. So I thought why not introduce some more art to the paper than we normally do.

I went to the art exhibit on 5th Avenue at Hutchinson Art Center to take pictures of this stuff, all for you guys, whoever actually read this and also enjoys art. If there are any of you out there. Oh, also, a slight history lesson about one of the pieces, I ain’t sorry about that everyone could always use some history.

There was a specific piece of art that caught my eye, and wasn’t a surprise to see, considering Easter was not too long ago. An eight-foot tall fiberglass jackrabbit was demanding my attention.

Turns out, it has more frequent-flyer mile points than I do. The commercial landscape of the 1960s was full of giant fiberglass beings, and they were all the rage, apparently. Some examples being – A&W Families, Sinclair Dinosaurs, 20-foot “Muffler Man”, Big Boy statues, and numerous animals.

The jackrabbits origin is in 1964, when the Odessa, Texas, Chamber of Commerce contracted International Fiberglass of California to make “The World’s Largest Jackrabbit”. Most recently, it was located at the Magic Forest amusement park in Lake George, New York, before being brought to good ol’ Hutchinson.

Ironically, the fiberglass company ended up making at least five more of these rabbits. So, ya know, it’s not the single world’s largest jackrabbit, but they let it slide so I guess I will too.

I know it was the 1960s, but an eight-foot tall bunny was the largest they could think of?

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