We’re Back!!  Brought to you by the Kearney Dawn Rotary, Cranes On Parade II proudly celebrates the annual migration of the Sandhill Crane…and this year’s celebration will be the biggest yet!

Nationally renowned artist, and Kearney resident, Martha Pettigrew has graciously accepted Kearney Dawn Rotary’s invitation to create another specially sculpted crane just for this occasion.  Martha has sculpted a model with it’s wings swept upright in the iconic dance of the Sandhill crane.  This crane is specifically designed to compliment the art from the 2003 project.  The crane will then be mass replicated by Icon Poly (Gibbon, NE) for local, regional and national artists to apply their creative touch to.

Sponsors for the project will be assigned to artists and their respective cranes, pushing the event through the summer of 2010!  All summer long the finished cranes will be on display throughout the Kearney, NE community.  On September 9, 2010, the finalized crane creations will be auctioned off to various art collectors and supporters of Cranes On Parade II!

Proceeds from the auction, activities and events will go toward Community Charities and Organizations, scholarships, The Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) and other National and International Rotary Projects.

The Sandhill Crane Migration is an event that effects our local community every year, and is unusual to this area.  This is something that sets the Kearney area apart from the rest of the state.  It was with this in mind, that the committee intended for “Cranes on Parade” to also showcase our local artists.  Dozens of applications were mailed to artists in Kearney and the immediate area, drawing from the membership list of the Kearney Artist Guild, the art faculty at the Kearney Public Schools and UNK, and other well-known artists across Nebraska.  Through media exposure, artists from throughout the state, and even out-of-state, became aware of the event and requested applications as well.  Artists were allowed to submit multiple designs.

Through a separate jury process, we narrowed the choices significantly, striving to include as many artists as we were able to procure sponsorship.  We appreciate the support of our sponsors who enabled us to provide blank cranes for the 17 sculptures now on display as “Cranes on Parade II.”