FYI: Big Orange

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 31, 2005, at 11:44 AM, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       bapopik at AOL.COM
> Subject:      FYI: Big Orange
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>
> Big Orange, FYI.
> --Barry Popik, held prisoner in his girlfriend's apartment without
> Newspaperarchive and ProQuest (she has a dial-up without Adobe
> Acrobat).
> ...
> ...
>
> (FACTIVA)
> ...
> ...
>  Article 1
>
>
>
> Oranges weighing 90 pounds? It's for the sake of public art
>
> SHIRIN PARSAVAND
> THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
> 624 words
> 27 July 2005
> The Press-Enterprise
> B01
> English
> Copyright (c) 2005 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
> rights reserved.
>
> RIVERSIDE
> The Big Orange just might become Riverside's new nickname by this time
> next year.
> ...
> The city is one of the latest to join a recent craze in public art and
> tourism projects: whimsically painted, outsized creatures or objects.
> ...
> Chicago started it all in 1999, with its Cows on Parade. Dozens of
> other cities followed. Los Angeles had a Community of Angels. Boston
> had a Cavalcade of Cod. Rhode Island had Mr. Potato Heads. Temecula
> had Painted Ponies.
> ...
> Riverside will have the Giant Orange ARTventure.
> ...
> Oranges might seem a natural pick for the city, which was once a
> center of citrus agriculture.
> ...
> But some of the people who initially tossed around the idea of a
> cow-parade-style fundraiser weren't crazy about citrus. The event
> chairwoman - or grove supervisor, as some are calling her - said she
> wasn't convinced.
> ...
> "I thought a painted orange would look like a beach ball," said Kathy
> Allavie, a member of the Riverside Art Alliance, the fundraising arm
> of the Riverside Art Museum.
> ...
> But she and the others warmed to the idea of fiberglass fruit after
> they saw photos of the Big Apple Fest in New York City.
> (There was a Big Apple Fest in New York City??--ed., in a moment of
> sarcasm)
> ...
> If giant fruit can make it there, it seems, it can make it anywhere.
>

> (That's bad!--ed.)

You have that right! The "it" referring to "giant fruit" should be
"they." Or else "giant fruit" should be preceded by "a."

-Wilson Gray

> ...
> Several businesses have expressed interest in sponsoring oranges,
> Allavie said. Each sponsor will pay $5,000 to choose a design and have
> a plaque identifying the business placed under the orange.
> ...
> The designs can refer to the nature of the sponsor's business, but
> can't include a logo or any other overt form of advertising, said
> Daniel Foster, executive director of the Riverside Art Museum.
> ...
> The oranges won't look like beach balls. Each will have a stem and
> leaves, Allavie said.
> ...
> Some prominent artists have shown an interest in the project, Foster
> said, though he declined to reveal names.
> ...
> He expects artists from inside and outside Riverside to compete for
> the chance to paint an orange.
> ...
> "We feel this is very much a regional project and not exclusively a
> local project," Foster said.
> The oranges will be bolted into concrete foundations to prevent theft,
> Foster said. A clear coating will be applied to guard against
> graffiti.
> ...
> Sponsors can keep their oranges after the exhibit ends, or donate them
> to be auctioned. Allavie said she expects about half of the oranges to
> be auctioned.
> ...
> Foster said he expects the project to bring in more than $100,000 for
> the museum.
> ...
> More than 100 communities have done some version of Cows on Parade,
> said Nathan Mason, curator of special projects for the public art
> program of the city of Chicago. Mason helped organize Cows on Parade,
> which was based on a similar project in Zurich, Switzerland.
> ...
> Mason thinks there is something about cows that makes them especially
> popular as public art.
> ...
> But he said all the projects share the appeal of showing how artists
> approach the same canvas.
> ...
> "They can see how different artists solve a problem - what do you do
> with a weird white cow?" Mason said.
> "Oranges, I think, should be fun, because they're big and round." * * *
> ...
> GIANT ORANGE ARTVENTURE
> WHAT: 30 fiberglass oranges, each 4 feet in diameter and weighing 90
> pounds, painted by artists
> WHERE: Scattered around downtown Riverside, from Fifth Street to 14th
> Street and Market Street to Lime Street
> WHEN: Starting late May or early June 2006, and running through
> September 2006
> WHY: To raise money for Riverside Art Museum
> PHOTO; Caption: 2004 / THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE / Riverside is following
> the lead of Temecula's Painted Ponies exhibit with Giant Orange
> ARTventure, fiberglass oranges that will be painted in various styles.
>