Monday, September 25, 2000
Pig Parade: Metamorphoswine
Healing pig comes out of its cocoon
By Owen Findsen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
This is 149th in a series spotlighting pigs from the Big Pig Gig Public Art Project taking place in Cincinnati, Covington and Newport. Find past pig profiles and event details — and vote for your favorite pig — at www.cincinnati.com/bigpiggig
Have a headache? Back pain? There's a healing pig, Metamorphoswine.
Artist: John Maggard, 46, Terrace Park, an illustrator best known for his posters for the American Heart Association's Mini-Marathon.
Sponsor: Mercy Health Partners.
This pig's pen: Krohn Conservatory, Eden Park.
You were inspired by: The sponsors wanted to convey the theme of healing. We talked about chakras, acupuncture, color auras, and settled on the butterfly as the universal symbol of healing. I got a field guide to butterflies so I could paint them on the pig. I never knew there were so many different kinds. All the markings on my butterfly wings are accurate, but I changed the colors.
Completing the project took: 125-150 hours.
What's the matter? One shot sign painters enamel.
Your high on the hog was: It was a good reason to work outside this summer. My studio is in my basement. Being outside I saw neighbors I hadn't seen in years.
Pig peeve: The first caduceus was made from a broomstick and somebody yanked on it and broke it in half. Only the rubber snake that wrapped around it was holding it together. My son painted the little wings on top of the caduceus and one of them was taken.
I rebuilt it out of steel pipe and glued the snake back on with an enormous amount of epoxy. They're going to have to pull real hard to get that one off.
Best pig tale: The butterfly wings on the pig's back are movable. I used a pivot from a helicopter engine for them. Originally the wings were going to be motorized and powered by a solar cell in the pig's head. The motor gave up the ghost during the installation process.
My favorite pork dish: Pork fried rice.
What do you call this pig: We played around with Squealer Healer. I liked it, but the sponsor prefered Metamorphoswine.
The materials cost: Between $400 and $500.
If your pig starred in a movie, who would you cast to play the role? I thought of the movie Papillon but Steve McQueen doesn't seem to fit, so I guess Goldie Hawn, from Butterflies are Free.
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