Adopt and Animal Bench from the Cosmos!

The Cosmos will endure, but Carousel Cosmos on Portland’s Western Promenade, in partnership with TEMPOart, was always intended as a TEMPO-rary public art installation.

All seven of these carved animal benches will remain on Portland’s Western Promenade until November 8th of 2024. Before that time, I hope to arrange loving new homes for each future-former carousel animal — profiled below.

Future homes for these animal benches must be indoors. They are made of carefully joined, carved and painted Ash wood. Ash is a fantastically dense, tough and durable hardwood, native to Maine. Traditionally it’s been used to make axe handles and baseball bats. Unfortunately, it is not weather-resistant in the long-term.

As temporary art installations become more popular, the question more often arises:

What does one do with temporary art, after?

In order to make the most of the budget and timeline for Carousel Cosmos, as well as to minimize the carbon footprint of its materials, I made these animals from a tough, renewable, and abundant native hardwood.

As indoor seating, with minimal maintenance, nothing would prevent them for lasting indefinitely — even in the busiest of public spaces.