New Dogs, Old Tricks

Edit: Camellia Bailey added to artist list — Aug. 12

Ruston residents and visitors can soon expect the number of colorful bulldog statues scattered throughout the city to nearly double.

And residents or businesses who’d like to become the host of one of these creative canines should get ready for an auction battle to remember.

The final litter of the Ruston Cultural District’s Bulldog Project statues have each been painstakingly painted by the winners of a design contest — chosen from a horde of submissions — and are now on hand at City Hall and awaiting their debut on Sept. 19.

“To have these out there and ready to be seen, ready to welcome residents and visitors, I’m really excited about that,” RCD President Amy Stegall said.

The cultural district will cap off the years-long Bulldog Project, part fundraiser and part public art installation, by auctioning off 10 more fiberglass bulldog statues-turned works of art on Sept. 19 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Dixie Center for the Arts.

Artists submitted nearly 130 designs this spring, hoping to chosen to paint one of the final 10 bulldogs that will be seen around the Ruston community for years to come.

“The response was just overwhelming,” Stegall said. “It’s clear people love this project, and they love what we’re doing, and they want to be a part of it. We heard from artists who weren’t even on our radar, which is fantastic and fits right into what we want to do.”

As was the case in 2022, those who win the statues at auction will be required to place them on display in the city as public art.

Here’s the full list of dashing dogs that will be up for bid:

• "Luna" by Camellia Bailey

• “Louisiana Natives’ by Hannah and Nick Bustamante

• “Vincent” by Whitney Caskey

• “Temporal Radiance” by Whitney Trisler Causey

• “Let’s Play” by Melanie Douthit

• “Storybook Bark” by Bailee Golden

• “USPS” by Fairan Hayes

• “Stained Glass Bulldog” by Anna Grace Lee

• “Au Printemps” by Leanna Patterson

• “Disco Dog” by Emily Vaccaro

Unlike the previous auction, each statue will be on- site and on display during the auction, where they’ll sit proudly on the Dixie stage.

Once in place in their new homes, Ruston will have 21 Bulldog Project statues on a map that residents and visitors alike can track down.

And the RCD will have the proceeds to use in their future projects to promote the arts and culture of Ruston.

“When we were getting the bulldogs back from the artists, one of the questions we asked them was why do they feel that public art is important,” Stegall said. “ And time after time they said it just changes the whole way you feel about a place, when you’re sitting at a red light and you look to the left and there’s art on the transformer box. It just brings a smile to your face.”

For the RCD, the Bulldog Project is not only about providing the public with access to art, but also providing artists with access to ways to show their work.

The “USPS” bulldog, which adorns the statue in a postal service uniform, was painted by Fairan Hayes, an actual mail carrier.

The judges committee scored the design submissions without knowing the artists’ names or whether they were professional or amateur artists, in order to remove bias and choose the winners on the merits of the design.

“(Hayes) is an example of you just have to try something to see, being brave enough to try something different,” Stegall said. “For her to accomplish that, for us to have an avenue for her to accomplish that, that really makes us feel like we’ve made art accessible to everybody.”

The RCD raised more than $71,000 by auctioning off seven bulldogs at its 2022 event. Every auction is different, but Stegall hopes with 10 on the block this time around, the district could raise at least that much again, if not more.