So, we got
to thinking. What does Tape Art need? Sure the "magic" of
public art is great and all, but something seemed to be missing.
Then one of the three brains, or perhaps all three at the same time,
came to the conclusion. Obviously what we lacked was a mascot.
All great things have mascots. Sports teams have ferocious animals,
cheese snacks have ferocious animals that don't act like ferocious animals
and Pepsi cola has Cindy Crawford.
But what was
there for Tape Art?
| The
natural inclinations for the creation of mascots definitely leans
toward animals. Not that a papaya is a bad mascot, but generally
mascots are more effective if they are able to look right
into your soul and if the mascot in question doesn't even have eyes,
it is rarely considered. We got to thinking about the mascot
for us and quickly decided that it would be awfully convenient if
it rhymed in some way the word Tape. In the same breath "Tapey
the Tapir" leapt forth. We collectively had visions of a cute little
antelope-like character, somewhat Bambi-esque, prancing about, enthused
about art. It had a nice ring to it and we quickly went to work,
brainstorming about what fantastic things our new and exciting mascot
could do. |
The Tapir |
 |
Tapey
would be seen pressing his wet nose against children's arms, a roll
of tape nestled between its cute little antlers. Then through
the powers of mime it would begin teaching the thrills of creative
expression.
Perhaps Tapey the Tapir could tuck little kids into
bed and turn the lights off on the way out of the room. Things
looked good. Nothing seemed to be able to stop this
docile, spry little antelope.
Nothing that is, except
the real tapir. |
 |
|
The three of us, in the whirlwind of
excitement concerning the mascot had failed to accurately remember exactly
what a tapir was. We knew absolutely that it was indeed an animal. Beyond
that we all just agreed that it was a cute little african antelope-type
creature that grazed and spent its days just looking at butterflies with
its big cute tapir eyes. Oh, how sadly mistaken we were. Through
the power of the internet we had the opportunity to do a little research
while we were on the road. If you look for the tapir in cyber-space
you will not find a gold mine of cuteness.
| No, what
you will find is the polar opposite. Desperate, we tried every spelling
of tapir we could. Could we have been so gravely mistaken? Is this
the tapir? Is this hideous beast portrayed in all these photos the
very animal that we had crowned Tapey the Tapir? The picture on
the right is the single-most flattering photo we could find of our
new South American friend. For the most part it fails to have any
attributes that would make it mascot material. Its natural enemy
is the anaconda and its unnatural enemy is Man. Its one redeeming
quality is that they are apparently remarkably good swimmers. |
The Tapir |
Inspired and influenced by our recent findings concerning our agua-efficient,
endangered tapir friend, we started a mural that celebrated its natural
environment - water. It was a scorching hot day and the liquidy mural
created a visual oasis of refreshment for the festival goers.
And so, despite our reservations that not everyone would instantly fall
in love with our new mascot, we drew madly in the courage of our conviction
that it is only a matter of how well Tapey is introduced to the public:
Tapey is friendly, approachable, and a fun-loving companion to anyone
able to recognize his adorableness when they see it. Just think
of him as a big, bald paddling hamster.
One person did recognize the tapir for what it was - a tapir. We guess
that if the tapir is not a good mascot, then maybe we should not have
a mascot at all. So Tapey stayed on the wall overnight and in the morning
was removed with the rest of the high spirited water-revelers on the wall. |
