Fourteen area organizations have committed to crafting 15 larger-than-life-size puppets for The Parade of Giants, one of the eight Signature Experiences of Bridge-o-Rama.
Presented by Texas Capital Bank, Bridge-o-Rama is West Dallas’s celebration of the opening
of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge across the Trinity River. It is a complementary festival to the
official Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Opening Celebration, taking place on the bridge the weekend
of Mar. 2-4, 2012.
Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. has signed on as the Exclusive Signature Sponsor of the
Parade of Giants. La Reunion TX, an emerging artist residency, is our partner for the parade.
On Sat. Mar. 3, 2012, the 14 organizations will parade their puppets down Singleton Boulevard
in West Dallas and across the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and back. Each puppet will represent
an individual who during their lifetime had some impact – positive or negative – on West Dallas.
The individuals to be represented by the puppets (and their sponsoring organizations) are:
Judge Harold “Barefoot” Sanders – Judge Sanders steered the Dallas Independent School District through its evolution toward desegregation.
(Readers2Leaders)
Mattie Nash – Mattie Nash was a long-time West Dallas community activist who was among the first Dallas city councilpersons elected under the 14-1 single-member district system.
(Dallas City Councilwoman Monica Alonzo and the Skillful Living Center)
Bonnie and Clyde – Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are outlaws who had ties to West Dallas and terrorized that community and many others in the Central United States in the 1930s.
(Dallas Police Department’s Dallas Police Explorer Program)
Father Sebastian Valles – Father Valles was a young missionary priest from Spain who in the 1930s envisioned a school (now St. Mary of Carmel), that would serve the Catholics throughout West Dallas.
(Students of St. Mary of Carmel)
Judge Jerry Buchmeyer – Judge Buchmeyer is best known for his ruling in 1985 that forever transformed the living conditions within the public housing projects of West Dallas.
(Students of Paul Quinn College)
Sarah Cockrell – Ms. Cockrell opened and managed the first bridge over the Trinity River, linking West Dallas with all major roads north and east.
(Empowering Spirits Foundation)
Bettie Odom – Every day, hundreds of barbecue fans line up on Singleton Avenue to enjoy the fare produced at the landmark West Dallas restaurant Ms. Odom operated for more than two decades. (Young Life West Dallas)
Victor Considérant – In 1855, Considérant founded the French-speaking La Réunion colony in the area we now call West Dallas.
(The artists of La Reunion TX)
Julien Reverchon – One of the La Reunion colonists, Mr. Reverchon also taught botany at what is today Baylor University Medical Center.
(The Friends of Reverchon Park)
Andrea Flores Cervantes – Ms. Cervantes helped establish the Los Barrios Unidos clinic in West Dallas along with the first free summer lunch program for West Dallas children.
(Vickery Meadow Learning Center)
Hattie Henenberg – Ms. Henenberg was a member of Texas's "All-Woman Supreme Court” established in 1925. In 1938, she started a toy-loan library for underprivileged West Dallas families.
(The students in the second-grade class at Smith Elementary in Duncanville)
Hattie Rankin – Ms. Rankin was a church worker who was so moved by the poverty in West Dallas in the 1930s that she started the Eagle Ford Mission.
(The Wesley-Rankin Community Center)
Myrtle Davis – Ms. Davis was a late 20th-century community and political leader whose name, along with Mattie Nash’s, graces the premier city recreation center in West Dallas.
(Westmoreland Heights Neighborhood Association)
Rhoda Dragoo -- In 1915, Methodist deaconess Ms. Dragoo won the right for Mexican children to attend Dallas public schools.
(Participants in the j.k. livin Foundation program at L.G. Pinkston High School in West Dallas)
In addition, La Reunion TX has selected 15 local artists who will help the sponsoring organizations design and build their puppets at workshops La Reunion TX will conduct in February 2012. Those artists are:
VET – A native Texas artist who incorporates recycling awareness and arts education into her projects and residencies, VET is a recent recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts Award and has worked on a collaborative performance and exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Cori Berg – Cori has a background in education and theater and has taught art to children of all ages.
Heather Blalikie – A product design manager, Heather studied ceramic engineering at Georgia Tech
and has experience crafting a puppet head (but not yet a full puppet)!
Gary Buckner -- Born in raised in Dallas, Gary attended UT-Austin and has experience in metalwork, welding and wood burning, among other disciplines.
Andrea Davis – Andrea is the president of the Plano Art Association and the publisher of “Fine Art in Dallas”. She is a mixed-media artist who specializes in sculptures that incorporate recycled materials.
Susan Giller -- Susan has taught children and adults in Dallas, New Jersey and New York on how to fashion art from clay, fiber, metal and other materials. She has woven large commercial tapestries in New York.
Gretchen Goetz -- Gretchen is a Dallas-based artist, writer and Emmy Award-winning set decorator.
She is known for her vivid color palette and her whimsical yet sensuous illustration style.
Nicole Horn – Nicole is the owner of Modern Relics, which is dedicated to providing durable and affordable finishes for fine furniture pieces. She also is the artistic coordinator of the Parade of Giants.
Rebecca Howdeshell – Rebecca creates most of her artwork with the sewing machine and is particularly attracted to forms that suggest the strength and vulnerability of our physical selves.
Walter Johnson Jr. – Walter is a self-taught artist who produces paintings and sculptures crafted from found objects.
Kevin Obregon – Kevin is a site-specific sculptor, painter, photographer, writer, graphic designer, muralist, percussionist and artist’s advocate who owns The Cube Creative in the Tyler Davis Art District.
Junanne Peck – Printmaking is Junanne’s primary art form. She is a TXO Artist (Texas Original Artist) selected by the Texas Commission on The Arts. Her works are featured in solo and invitational exhibits.
Jennifer Sereno – Jennifer is a married mother of two who creates works that are an amalgamation
of stone, clay, glass and found objects.
Jessica Sinks – Jessica likes to draw, paint, collage and sculpt works inspired by the imperfect beauty found in insects, leaves, landscapes, people, animals and bones (to name a few inspirations).
Sean Springer – Sean considers himself the ultimate “Urban Lumberjack”, for he collects tree trunks
and branches, mills them into slabs, dries them and transforms them into furniture and art.
Complete background information about the Parade of Giants, Bridge-o-Rama’s other Signature Experiences, its Official Events, partners and sponsors is available at www.bridge-o-rama.com.