Chandler banking on ostriches as public art, Yazzy's at www.williamaverdult.com

Chicago had cows. Seattle has pigs.

Now Chandler is launching its own public art project with 6½-foot-tall fiberglass ostriches. Businesses and agencies will sponsor up to 20 of the giant birds by painting, decorating and putting them on display.

The birds will hit the streets around downtown at the beginning of February, about a month before the 20th annual Ostrich Festival, said Katie Stringham, spokeswoman for the Chandler Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber and the Chandler Arts Commission are organizing the project.

The idea came up during a brainstorming session at the chamber.

"I had just been in Seattle and they had pigs," Stringham said. Chamber CEO Becky Jackson had been in Sedona and seen that city's javelinas.

The first ostrich will be on display from 5 to 9 Wednesday at the Downtown Chandler Art Walk. It will be at Art on Boston, where visitors can pick up pictures of an ostrich and offer their own ideas for designing the bird.

Those who already have agreed to sponsor ostriches include the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership, Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort, First Credit Union, Western International University and Wells Fargo.

Each ostrich also will feature a plaque attached to the piece recognizing the sponsor and the artist. Sponsors also will be recognized in a map that will showcase all the birds and their locations.

Ostrich sponsors will be matched with artists.

The arts commission is donating the artist supplies and sponsoring $10,000 in artist prizes for favorite designs that will be determined by a public vote.

The birds will be on display through November 2008. The goal is to have 20 ostriches downtown, and some companies may sponsor birds for other locations as well.

Some sponsors may choose to keep their bird after the display period, either at its original display location or by having it moved to another site. The cost to keep the bird is $4,000 ($1,000 more than the $3,000 cost of only sponsoring one).

The remaining birds will either stay on display indefinitely or go up for auction at the Chandler Chamber's Holiday Enchantment in November 2008, Stringham said.

The Chicago company making the ostriches already had an ostrich mold because it had created a farm display.

"Nobody's ever actually done just ostriches for this type of project," Stringham said.