Party Animals, Washington, D.C

The Official Book, Party Animals, Washington, DC, is the full-color pictorial record of the largest public art project in the history of our country’s capital. Inspired by the successes of Chicago’s Cows on Parade and similar public arts projects in other cities, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities knew Washington and its artists could only benefit from a chance to display their creativity, generosity, and profound sense of community to the rest of the world. Over a period of nine months, the DC Arts Commission worked diligently to turn over hundreds of well-formed, near life-sized creatures—100 elephants and 100 donkeys—to artists. Party Animals was an opportunity to exhibit Washington’s abundant creative talent and energy. In a city notorious for taking itself a bit too seriously, it was an opportunity to have some fun. The Party Animals public art project was launched by Mrs. Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States, and Anthony Williams, Mayor of the District of Columbia on April 23rd, 2002. The event received over 200 national media mentions that day alone from major media such as The Washington Post, CNN and NBC-TV’s Today Show. But most importantly, Washingtonians began rounding the corners of downtown streets, emerging from Metro entrances and stepping out of their homes to unexpectedly discover a herd of striking and strangely endearing animal sculptures. These handsome works of art will be auctioned off in late October, 2002, leaving only "The Official" Orange Frazer Press book as a record of the event.