Published: May 09, 2007 12:31 am         

Swope fund-raising project gets under way

TERRE HAUTE — The colts have arrived.

Not the football team, but much smaller, lighter fiberglass colts as part of a fund-raising project for the Sheldon Swope Art Museum designed to capitalize on Indianapolis Colts fever.

A truck carrying 14 white, fiberglass colts arrived at the Swope Art Museum on Tuesday. The unpainted colts, measuring 41/2 feet tall, 4 feet long and 11 inches wide, will soon be painted or otherwise decorated by local artists and placed at sponsoring businesses around the area. Another 14 or 15 colts are expected soon.

“I’m very excited about it,” said David Vollmer, director of the Swope Art Museum. All the proceeds from the fund-raising project, called “Horsing Around in Terre Haute,” which will include an auction sometime in August or September, will go to the museum, Vollmer said.

Sponsorships for a decorated colt cost $2,000 for businesses/donors that supply their own artist to decorate their colt. For a $2,500 sponsorship, the Swope will provide the artist, said Lynn Van Etten, project chairwoman and a member of the Swope’s board of Overseers.

Local artists were invited to submit design ideas for the unpainted colts in April. About 95 artists submitted ideas, Van Etten said.

“It’s interesting to see how different people approach the same thing in different ways,” Van Etten said. Each unpainted colt is identical, but artists have put forth several different, creative ideas for how to decorate or paint them, she said.

One sponsor, a local hospital, will have a colt painted wearing a surgical mask, a stethoscope and scrubs, Van Etten said.

Designs for the colts have to be accepted and approved by the Swope, Van Etten said, adding that, even though the fund-raising project was arranged to coincide with the Indianapolis Colts camp at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, using the football Colts’ logos or other trademarked designs is not allowed.

Each participating artist will receive $500, Van Etten said.

The unpainted colts will be stored for a short time at the Swope Art Museum, but soon will be shipped out to the local artists, who will transform them into colorful, decorated colts. The finished products will be on display at various local sponsoring businesses until August or September, when they will be auctioned off by the museum.

Sponsoring businesses or donors who wish to purchase their colt can do so for an additional $1,000, Van Etten said.

The project will help the Swope Art Museum’s education programs and exhibitions, Vollmer said.

Van Etten believes “Horsing Around in Terre Haute” also will help downtown Terre Haute because many of the colts will be on display at downtown businesses, she said.

The first colts should start popping up around town in mid-June, she added.

Close to 30 colt sponsorships have been sold so far, Van Etten said, but sponsorships still are available. Anyone interested in sponsoring a colt should contact the Swope at (812) 238-1676. More information is available at the Swope’s Web site, www.swope.org.

Arthur Foulkes can be contacted at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.