He couldn’t repeat the process for his next assignment - the (in)famous flamingo - so he drew inspiration instead from vivid photographs that accompanied National Geographic‘s October 1957 cover story. That bird became his masterpiece and even carries his signature on its rump, but Featherstone’s ostrich was apparently his favorite fowl.Ī lamb planter (courtesy Union Products division of Cado Company, Fitchburg, Massachusetts)Īside from the birds, Featherstone also fashioned elephants into darling watering cans introduced dinosaurs, pilgrims, and witches into the canon of lawn decor and got into the spirit of Christmas with elves and smiley Santas. Featherstone’s first assignment was actually to sculpt a duck he purchased a living one as a model, named it “Charlie,” and kept it in his sink. Also available: a pair of comically wide-eyed penguins gazing skyward, making for fun winter decorations or cheesy punchlines in the tropics. That decision, however, forever transformed landscapes across the nation: over the course of his 43 years with Union Products, Featherstone designed more than 600 garden tchotchkes, many of which are still available for purchase.Īmong his creations are more feathered friends (perhaps a personal salute to his name), from pheasants and roosters to pelicans and graceful swans that double as planters, showing his consideration of function in addition form. “It was the 1950s, and everyone said plastics were going to be big so I went into plastics.” According to Bangor Daily News, he “likely would have taught in an arts school or focused on watercolors” if he had not chosen a career in yard ornamentation. “I did it to keep from starving,” Featherstone said in a 1997 interview. Penguin pair designed by Donald Featherstone (courtesy Union Products division of Cado Company, Fitchburg, Massachusetts) He became more interested in the arts in middle school when he started sketching and working with watercolors, and, during high school, took fine arts classes on nights and weekends, studying photography, oil painting, architecture, and design. He eventually attended a three-year program at the Worcester Art Museum‘s art school, but rather than pursuing a career as an artist upon graduating, he joined the plastic manufacturer Union Products (acquired by Cado Company in 2009). He’s most recognized for helping to dot the yards of US suburbs with shocking pink plastic flamingos - the exemplar of kitsch that rose from its resin roots to become the “ ambassador of the American lawn” and even a “ signpost for the transgression of social and cultural convention.” But Donald Featherstone, who died last week from Lewy body dementia at 79, was also a trained painter and sculptor who left behind much more than his fuchsia specimens, upon which he had bestowed the playful trinomial nomenclature “Phoenicopterus ruber plasticus.”įeatherstone, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, began making art as a child and recalled drawing the neighborhood bread truck when he was four.
Plastic flamingo full#
By the early 1970s, the uncoolness of the flamingo had done a full 180 - it had become such a pariah that it was now cool, and thus images of the bird, including plastic pink lawn ones, roared back into style.Donald Featherstone, “Bookmingo” (2010) (photo by Charles Sternaimolo, courtesy Fitchburg Public Library) They fell out of favor, but it turned out only for a brief period. And still today, you can find lawns sporting plastic pink flamingos across America.įeatherstone’s flamingos did have a dip in popularity in the 1960s, though, as millions of youths fought back against the mainstream and anything associated with their parents, which included plastic lawn decorations. In 2009, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, named the pink plastic flamingo as its official bird by a vote of 15 to 4. In 1996, Featherston was awarded the Ig Nobel Art Prize for his flamingo.
Plastic flamingo movie#
In 1972, John Waters’ movie Pink Flamingos prominently featured plastic pink flamingos.
The impact of Featherstone’s work has been felt in America for decades. In 2006, he had 57 plastic lawn flamingos outside his Fitchburg, Massachusetts, home, an ode to the year he created them.
Featherstone loved his work so much that he had more than enough decorating his own lawn.
0 kommentar(er)
