Published: August 29, 2007 08:35 pm         

Remaining fiberglass colts to be auctioned

TERRE HAUTE — Less than two weeks remains before the fiberglass colts around town will be herded to Memorial Stadium to be auctioned off to new owners.

“I think it has been a fun program,” said David Vollmer, director of the Sheldon Swope Art Museum, “one that has gotten people excited about the arts in Terre Haute.”

“Horsing Around in Terre Haute” is a fund-raising event for the museum featuring 30 fiberglass colts decorated by local artists.

Each 4 1/2-foot-tall colt was placed around town for people to enjoy.

Most of the colts were placed downtown, but many appeared outside various locations, including the Terre Haute Heart Center, Union Hospital, Honey Creek Mall, the eastside Wal-Mart, Harmonious Hedgehog and Bunch Nurseries.

The colts have been out since the last weekend of June and will be auctioned off at 4 p.m. Sept. 8 at Indiana State University’s Memorial Stadium.

Vollmer said since the colts have been put out, there hasn’t been a day that he hasn’t seen people stopping to look or take pictures, or children hugging the sculptures, no matter how hot it was outside.

He said he was surprised by the community’s reaction to the project.

“I knew there would be an interest for sure,” Vollmer said, “but I didn’t realize there would be so much excitement.”

The museum is on its second printing of the “Horsing Around in Terre Haute” brochure, which shows pictures of each colt and features a map of their locations, Vollmer said.

Ralph Cutter, chairman of the museum’s board of overseers, also was surprised by the community’s response.

“I thought it would be exciting and I thought that it would be different,” Cutter said. “It exceeded my expectations. The people that take their children and grandchildren and take pictures, I’ve done that myself. I think the enthusiasm shown in the city is tremendous.”

Money raised from the project will help the museum’s education programs and exhibitions.

Donors that sponsored their own artist to decorate a colt paid $2,000, and donors who relied on a Swope-appointed artist paid $2,500.

Because sponsors had the option of purchasing their colts, 13 of the 30 colts already are sold.

“Appaloosa Heart,” sponsored by the Terre Haute Heart Center is one of the colts already purchased.

Sylvia Andres’ husband, a doctor at the center, purchased the colt as a surprise to her.

She said they plan to leave the colt outside for the rest of summer, but expect to bring it inside during the winter because they don’t think it would fare well in the elements.

“We love it. Our patients really love it,” she said about the colt. “They really like the design of the horse.”

Bidding is expected to start at $1,200 for each colt, Cutter said.

Whoever places the highest bid will have first choice of the 17 colts. The next highest bidder will choose from the remaining colts, and so on.

A project of this magnitude would generally take about a year to pull together, Vollmer said, but with a lot of work, they were able to get everything together in five months. However, this is not a project they plan to do again anytime soon.

“At this point, there are no plans to repeat this,” Vollmer said. “That is something that will be looked at down the road.”

Cutter said this has benefited more than just the museum.

“I think the project itself has been a real boon to not only the Swope, but the city of Terre Haute,” he said.

Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.