BRANDON, Vt. (WCAX) – Pigs may not be flying in downtown Brandon, but they are watching over window shoppers.
“This year we decide we should try it again, but the pigs had babies, and so we’re calling these piglets,” said Warren Kimble, the founder of the Brandon Artists Guild.
Artists and members of the Brandon community painted, cut and colored more than 80 cutting boards shaped like pigs. They peer out onto Route 7 watching over window-shoppers.
“I wouldn’t say mine is my favorite necessarily, but I can’t say just one that I love the most,” said Althea Bilodeau Lamb, the president of the Brandon Artists Guild.
The project is part of a fundraiser and auction helping young students with art supplies, and it’s a reminder of how the Brandon Artists Guild got its start.
“It’s always been a factor the Brandon Artists Guild is the support of the town of Brandon. Personally, I think Warren Kimble helped Brandon and Brandon is returning the favor,” Bilodeau Lamp said.
Kimble helped found the guild more than two decades ago.
An auction of 40 large pigs made out of fiberglass helped pay for the guild’s current building.
“The original pigs were so successful and we had so much fun, the whole world knew about it,” Kimble said. “It kind of enhanced the town a lot, too. We’re known as sort of arty but not totally, it just has sustained, the arts were a driver in the downtown.”
The guild says after covering the project costs, the rest of the funds raised will pay for art supplies for local students.
“You can’t touch anything near you right now or any place that hasn’t been impacted or influenced or designed or created by an artist: the clothes you wear, the building, the sidewalk… If we didn’t have art– forget it,” Kimble said. “As artists, we’re always trying to inspire and create things that make people happy and so forth. So, art in schools are being diminished at this point, so we give every year, we do, but with this project, we’ll be able to do even better.”
The Brandon Artists Guild says the pigs will continue their stay in local shops until mid-August. Then, they will converge at the Town Hall for a silent auction.