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Pig and Wolf

May 23, 2011 08:28PM ● By Erin Frisch

Original Pig and Wolf sculptures made for Cristina and Bill Hammond.

Hanover’s Hog Wild over Pig and Wolf

Helping to celebrate 250 years

by Cassie Horner

New London had gnus and Burlington had cows for their sculpture events. Hanover is high-stepping into the whimsical with pigs and wolves, a natural choice thanks to the imaginative wooden pig created by Hanover chainsaw artist Willy Black in 2003 for Bill and Cristina Hammond. The pig was followed the next year by a wolf, and the saga of these two creatures was the perfect takeoff for this year’s sculpture event, Hanover’s Hog Wild Over Pig and Wolf, that is part of Hanover’s 250th anniversary festivities.

“The first pig came about because my wife Cristina asked for something whimsical for the garden,” recalls Bill Hammond. “I knew she had an affinity for pigs and asked Willy Black if she would make one. She made a pig, and I gave it to my wife for her birthday.” This critter started out indoors but began to crack, so Bill moved it outdoors, first to one spot and then another on his property near the Hanover Co-op.

“Someone immediately asked, ‘Where’s the pig?’” Bill recalls. A year later, with the addition of a wolf, the storytelling began, with such gems as “Three Little Pigs” and “IgPay” (this one featuring Roman toga costumes). “Pig and Wolf became kind of mascots for the Town of Hanover,” Bill says.

Kathy and Bill Geraghty, co-chairs of Hanover’s Hog Wild Over Pig and Wolf, took Black to visit fiberglass artist Raymond Paulin at his Berlin, New Hampshire, studio. Paulin recreated pigs and wolves in fiberglass, and the committee put out the call for artists to decorate them. The juried group of talent comes from the Upper Valley and includes art teachers Robin Henry and Ellen Haun at the Ray School in Hanover, where Black used to teach. It also includes Hanover landscape artist Betsy Derrick, who turned a wolf into a 3-D “canvas” for a landscape. Every design is different. A few of the conceptualizations of artists include Christy Scott’s gnome pig and wolf pig, Ann Semprebon’s floral pig, and Rebecca Gottesman’s floral wolf.

Fiberglass Wolf Sculpture

The 20 sculptures will be on display around Hanover from the end of May through the end of September. There is a scavenger hunt (find details online at www.hanovernh.org) designed to give pig and wolf seekers a fun excursion. At the end of the season, there will be an auction of all the critters with proceeds benefitting Hanover Parks and Recreation Department.

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