The Dog That Won an Art Competition.From The Museum of HoaxesThe 12th Annual Mid-Mississippi Art Com

The Dog That Won an Art Competition.From The Museum of HoaxesThe 12th Annual Mid-Mississippi Art Competition, hosted by the Davenport Art Museum (now known as the Figge Art Museum), was open to any adult artist living within a 100-mile radius of the Quad-Cities. The museum received 786 entries, which were judged in various categories by an independent panel of jurors brought in from outside the region. But at the award ceremony, held in October 1974, there were gasps and cries of surprise when artist Alexis Boyar walked up to the stage to receive the blue ribbon and $50 cash prize he had won for his entry in the weaving category. The shock wasn’t caused by the art. Alexis’s piece, titled “Anitra’s Dance,” was described as a “small fiber wall hanging in off-white, with a range of interesting textures and a central phallic shape.” Rather, the shock was caused by the artist himself, since he didn’t seem to fit the entrance criteria. Specifically, he wasn’t human. He was, in fact, a 6-year-old Afghan hound dog.Alexis was led up to the stage by his owners, Elliott and Julie McDonald. Elliott was a Davenport lawyer, and his wife Julie was a writer and former chairman of the Iowa Arts Council.After accepting the award for Alexis, Julie McDonald explained that the piece of weaving had originally been an old mitten Alexis found during a walk in the park the previous winter. She noted, “He chewed it into a rather interesting shape. We thought it was interesting enough to enter in competition, but we were surprised when it won a prize.”“ -- source link

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