Otter Sculptures, Slated to Be Part of Massive Scavenger Hunt, to Be Unveiled on World Otter Day Tomorrow

When Humboldt County artist Jennifer Amidi heard about the North Coast Otters Public Arts Initiative, she knew she wanted to be a part of the inspiring intersection of science, business, and art.

“I was super excited and nervous that I wouldn’t get picked,” she told us. “Their application was kind of intense.”

The project started when Humboldt State University Professor Jeff Black and his wife went to Dartmoor National Park in England and learned about a scavenger hunt involving otter statues decorated by local artists. He eventually decided to have a similar scavenger hunt involving over 100 otter statues sprinkled in businesses across the North Coast to educate people about the sleek swimmers, to raise money for watershed projects here, and to increase foot traffic to businesses while promoting local artists.

Amidi who has worked for 15 years in mosaics became excited about covering the statue in tiny glass tiles. “I cut every single piece of glass myself,” she told us. But first she drew a picture on the otter statue and then filed in the different parts with different colored tiles. “There are three fish [on my otter],” she explained. “They are very intricate. After I get all the tiles set and they are glued on. I used five different colors of grout to get the effect I want.”

She added, “I have these mirror circles. I put them throughout the water like they are bubbles.  When the light catches [the statue] you see purples and greens and yellows and pinks…When you put it a room with sunlight [because] every glass is at a different angle…the light just catches every piece of glass.”

The original plan was to place the otter statues throughout at various locations including businesses, schools, and art galleries. However, because of the worldwide COVID crisis, putting the statues into place has been delayed.

According to a press release, on May 27, the North Coast Otter project will celebrate World Otter Day with what they called “a virtual sneak peek of the more than 100 otter sculptures designed and decorated by artists from the North Coast and beyond…[The] virtual launch will allow people to see high-resolution photos of all the submitted otters in the meantime. The festival transition from virtual to “in person” will be timed to ensure safety and to support local businesses, and will provide an opportunity to celebrate our North Coast community.”

The event will livestream on Facebook about 1 p.m.

 

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Don’t forget to mark your calendar, May 27, virtual Otters…@northcoastottersart [email protected] #jensblends #northcoastottersart #mosaicotter #mosaic #mosaicart #mosaicartist #glassart #humboldtcounty #shareit #virtualsneekpeek #otterart #anahitathemosaicotter

A post shared by Jennifer a’Midi (@jensblends) on May 16, 2020 at 12:10pm PDT