The Traveling Chicken: Part V - California

A world wide painting project started several months ago!!

The travels & adventures of a small, ceramic chicken

as it makes it way around the art world.

Once upon a time, a small, ceramic chicken was purchased at the British version of the U.S.'s Dollar Store, Tiger England, by Azra Iqbal who was looking for small things to use in her still life paintings. She painted the following painting and then thought how much fun it would be to send this little chicken on a worldwide adventure, traveling to different countries, meeting different painters.

So she contacted her friend Karla Uphoff who lives in Illinois and asked if she'd like to paint the little chicken. Enthusiastic response by Karla and the little chicken was put in the mail to Illinois. Karla's normally an oil painter but decided to paint the chicken for Easter Sunday in watercolor.

And then Karla contacted Nancie Johnson of New Jersey and the chicken was shipped off, wrapped in its original red tissue paper for the journey.

Nancie said: When this little chicken arrived, I ran all over the house (and yard), posing this little chick everywhere. It was in the flower bed, on the bird bath, in various locations in the house. And I took photos in each - but nothing worked the way I wanted it to. The chick looked lost amongst the larger than life leaves in my photos - zooming in to get the little chick center stage made the leaves in the garden look like imposing alien creatures!

So I simply sat down and looked at the chick for a while. And I noticed how unusual the chicken actually was - from the markings on its body to the unusual beak and tail. And then I wondered what a flock of live chickens would think of this little one?

My painting is the outcome of that thought & question. Titled "One of the Flock?" shows the puzzled chicks looking at the little chicken with confusion. The little chick has no qualms about its identity - it knows who it is. So it just sits as the others simply guess.

The little chicken has been safely packaged and mailed to Jill Polsby in California, who has agreed to do the 4th installment of the The Traveling Chicken challenge. I wonder how far and wide this little chick with travel!?!

And then Jill Polsby, Pasadena, CA received the Traveling Chicken. Her life was a bit crazy at the moment so she asked her internet friend Nancy Goldman of Orange County, California to step in, and step in she did. She did an outrageous thing to this little jet-lagged, mind agog, little bird. She took her out for a day by the pool, showing off our gorgeous Southern California winter weather!

She then sent the little chicken back to Jill in Pasadena where the Traveling Chicken threw a hissy fit. She wanted more of the sun. She wanted more of travels. She didn't want to be in this staid old town. She found the Greyhound Bus Station and took herself to Ensenada, Baja Mexico, a wild party town south of the border. And, like every other tourist, she found Hussong's Cantina

where she proceeded to have a wild, wild time like all tourists do and she ended up very smashed on beer.

She had met some crazy men at Hussong's and had some great fun dancing and singing to the Mariachi music!

With her one call home to her momma in England......

Momma sent bus fare and money for the psychiatrist to put her broken body back into shape.

The psychiatrist tried, but the little chicken was so frazzled, her mind so bent by that Mexican frolic, that her edges couldn't be smoothed.

Jill did paint one picture of the frazzled chicken before the psychiatrist got his hands on her.

And then the truth must out! Little Chicken actually was smashed by our incredible U.S. postal system, smashed to smithereens in her original red tissue paper packaging which had survived crossing the Atlantic Ocean, crossing the United States, moving within the state of California.

While studying the pieces of the chicken to try to glue her back together (obviously nothing Jill should try to do to earn a living), there was a upc code discovered on the bottom side of the chicken which, with research, led Jill to a Danish company, Tiger Stores, which has branches in England.

On a devil's errand, Jill wrote the company via the internet with the following request:

Fra: jill polsby [mailto:polsby@yahoo.com]
Sendt: 23. maj 2012 04:13
Til: Tahir Hussain
Emne: strange question for you, nothing to do with opening a store

I am looking for a product you had, I think in England.

A small yellow ceramic chicken with white spots

the tag is still on it

0200010020696 from what I can read

Batch 62334

It's part of a worldwide "floating" art project that's been happening via the internet. This little chicken has visited a lot of countries, safely, until she got to the United States where our "incredibly efficient" post office smashed her on her way back to my house. I've been trying to glue her back together without much success and am so in hopes that somewhere in your inventory, you'll find me another little yellow chicken with white spots.

She's about 2 inches by 2 inches, red comb, yellow tail.

I've attached a picture I took of her when she first arrived at my house.

And surprises of all surprises!! Tiger Stores in Denmark sent my request on to the marketing manager in Great Britain. And back by email came this fantastic letter from the Tiger Store in London!!

Hello Jill

Your email regarding locating a ceramic chicken has been passed to me in London from our parent company in Denmark! You will be pleased to know we have found one. If you can email me your full name and address I will arrange to have it sent to you.

As a way of thanks we would appreciate if you can write about the project and the circumstances you found a replacement for the broken one. If you use Facebook it would be great if you could post it on our page atwww.facebook.com/tigerengland

Kind regards

Emma Bier

Design & Marketing

I'm now awaiting the arrival of a new Traveling Chicken who shall have her own "coop" to travel in from now on, no more of the red tissue packaging. Mom might travel with her and perhaps her muchacho, the cock of the walk, who she took up with while in Ensenada! There are possibilities for group posings?

Stay tuned for Jill's poses of this errant chicken. And if you might be interested in being part of the Chicken's Travels, speak up.