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Friday, December 17, 2010

Sculpture and Paper Cuts

A florist for Portland's Heathman Hotel contacted me with the idea for "the worlds smallest dog park."

The hotel wants to advertise itself as a pet friendly place. The florist wanted to provide a few square feet of grass and needed some metal framework to both show it off and protect the space. The hotel's initials were to go in the black circle.

Alas, the project imploded.
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My first design thought was that if some folks want to travel with their dogs, surely cat owners want to travel with THEIR cats. That supplied the sense of humor that let me begin. What would keep the dogs attention? Several balls and one cat....

Here's my design. Double click to enlarge.
Dogs and cat papercut ©2010 Patrick Gracewood
This was my initial sketch. You can see I wasn't sure about the cat.
I love how the black and white patterning makes your eyes dance around.

There's symmetry and interesting negative spaces that keep you looking at all the different kinds dogs: two mixed breed mutts falling for the snooty poodle at the right, calm big dogs at left, yapping beagles, odd Yorkies. Is your dog in the mix somewhere? (There's only one kind of cat. Unique.)

Since this design will not be in cut bronze at the Heathman,  do you think it would make a fun card for dog/cat lovers?

5 comments:

Deb said...

I imagine your papercuts as wearable art-
Batik black design against a bleach discharged shirt.

Mark D. Ruffner said...

I love the design, and that the positive and negative spaces are so evenly balanced. Your design should definitely be put to some use - I think a card would be great!

Theresa Cheek said...

copyright this and run with it! THis has such a fifities feel to it.....being a cat lover, I thank you for not letting the dogs catch it!

kara rane said...

hi Patrick-
Maybe you could propose the "pet area" to other hotels, and keep the commission idea alive.
the fun, playful design is a winner!

Dutchbaby said...

I'm so glad the cat got a stay of execution. It adds a great element of humor to the piece. It's a perfect design for a piece of architecture because it provides enough interest to allow the frequent visitor to discover new elements for a long time. It's a shame the commission didn't work out, but I can think of so many other places this would work. A greeting card, yes definitely. Would your local Humane Society or pet hospital be interested?