Denver’s Dog Tag Sculpture

Denver’s city animal shelter will soon have a new location (more on that in a future post) and as part of Denver’s public art initiative it will have a happy, tail wagging canine to greet visitors.  Don’t worry, this canine is always on his best behavior and never moves from a sit.  The dog is a sculpture titled “Sun Spot” created by artists Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan and was installed yesterday.

The "Sun Spot" sculpture sits outside of the new Denver Animal Shelter.

Even better than “Sun Spot’s” remarkably long attention span for sitting is what it’s made of – dog tags!  I’ll admit when I first heard about this sculpture I thought the tags were of the military variety (please keep in mind this was before I knew it would reside outside of an animal shelter so I had yet to put two and two together).  No sir, only animal dog tags will do for “Sun Spot.”  90,000 dog tags to be exact.  Each dog tag was individually attached to a frame of wire mesh that stands 20 feet tall.

A worker attaches a harness to the sculpture to move it into position.

Some of the 90,000 dog tags that cover "Sun Spot's" wire mesh frame.

I assume “Sun Spot” is so named because the tags catch the light and reflect the sun, giving the dog a shiny or glittery effect.  The sculpture is so large that it was created and installed in two pieces (head and body).

Workers move the dog head onto the body, already on the foundation.

Sit, “Sun Spot.” Good boy!

From the pictures, I love “Sun Spot” and I hope it lives up to my expectations.  I can’t wait to go see “Sun Spot” in person.  I’d like to ask him if he’s friends with “I See What You Mean” or “Mustang,” Denver’s other well known animal sculptures.  I’m just happy artists Haddad and Drugan didn’t make “Sun Spot” blue.

"I See What You Mean" a.k.a. the blig blue bear outside of the Colorado Convention Center.

"Mustang" rears outside of Denver International Airport.

Does your city have any animal related art or do you have any in your home?  If you’re nice, maybe someday I’ll show you my collection of Boston Terrier art and prove your suspicions of how big a freako I am.

“Sun Spot” pictures from The Denver Post. “I See What You Mean” photo from Denver.org.  “Mustang” photo from What Is the Pyramid.