By Jonathan Kay
The dog days of summer are here.
The first two of 300 fiberglass, multi-colored life-size German Shepherds were unveiled in Manhattan’s Shubert Alley last month as the DOGNY project, which will bring these canine statues to the outside of firehouses, police precincts and scattered private buildings throughout New York City.
The statues come both as a tribute to the four-legged search and rescue heroes of Sept. 11 and as a fund-raiser for the American Kennel Club Companion Animal Recovery Corporation Canine Support and Relief Fund.
The American Kennel Club created the fund, an established charity, a few months after the Sept. 11 attacks because of the overwhelming number of requests it received for food, medical care and shelter for dogs flown into New York as members of search and rescue teams, said spokeswoman Carla Cicalese. The charity hopes to raise money so resources will be available to these dogs in the case of another disaster.
The statues will be placed around the city through November, Cicalese said. The dogs will be taken down at the end of November and auctioned in December at Sotheby’s and Sothebys.com. The Kennel Club hopes to raise $2 million through the DOGNY campaign, Cicalese said.
People throughout the country had the opportunity to submit designs for the blank fiberglass German shepherds and all submissions were posted on the Internet so sponsors ranging from corporations to individuals could view the designs before handing over the $10,000 it costs to sponsor a statue.
Although statues will appear throughout the five boroughs, no Queens locations have been announced.
Several Queens artists have had their designs selected, however, including Long Island City artist and teacher Paul Farinacci. The Kennel Club liked Farinacci’s design so much that it asked him to paint a dog even though no sponsors chose his design.
Farinacci painted his dog’s body to look like a fire engine, placed wheels over his feet, a fireman’s hat on his realistically painted head and attached a functioning toy ladder to his back.
“I liked the idea of doing something mechanical with a human element to it,” he said. This project was particularly meaningful to Farinacci because he lost a friend in the attacks, he said.
Nor was Jamaica resident Jacqueline Fogel’s design chosen by a sponsor, but her experience painting a cow for the Parks Department two years ago encouraged the Pedigree dog food company to hire her to paint a dog the company had designed.
Fogel, who likes to make sculptures with exceptionally bright colors, was told to paint the dog yellow and put the orange vest worn by search and rescue dogs on its back. The dog is also covered with the signatures of every search and rescue dog owner and the dogs’ names.
Beata Szpura, a Woodside resident, submitted six designs and three were accepted. As a dog lover, Szpura took the opportunity to paint as many pictures of dogs as possible, covering all three of her statues with dog faces or bodies. She, along with the other two artists, said she was proud to use her art for such a worthy cause.
“The dogs and people from the World Trade Center were very heroic,” Szpura said. “And the dogs faced a large danger of death without a choice. I think what they did was very special.”
