The turmoil in the recent election stuck a chord with sculptor Brad Oldham and he wanted to create something that would illicit conversation about how Americans could work together to solve our Country's problems. So he created The Bipartisan Collection: a series of elephant and donkey hand-cast bronze sculptures to celebrate the many ways our political views make us different while showing that deep down, we may be more alike than we think. There is Uno (now standing on one leg to represent balance), Slide (playfully lunging forward to show compromise) and Oldham's favorite Giggles (lying on its back, laughing it up to illustrate a much-needed sense of humor). I attended a luncheon hosted by Oldham right before the Christmas holiday to view the series for myself and get a first-hand account from Oldham as to why he felt this conversation was so important.
CultureMap already wrote a bang-up article about this series and in their story Oldham explained, “Presidents are not supposed to be party specific. They are supposed to be bipartisan, to make the United States work for all the people.” What response is Oldham looking for? A simple conversation. Pick up the pieces, feel their weight, talk about them, talk about politics. Just talk. The Presidential Series will run you $3,500 (sold only in pairs because, Oldham says, the president represents everyone) or $1,600 for individual Senate Series pieces, which are $2,500 when purchased together. (Yep, you get a 22 percent bipartisan discount.) The actual pieces won’t be delivered in their stately birch boxes until Inauguration Day, January 21. Each piece has about 15 hours into it, and it is signed and numbered. One already has a destination. Oldham plans to send a set to the White House — No. 44, of course. “I’m not the most political person, but I like the idea of bipartisanship,” Oldham says. “The way I would want to get into politics is by creating something like this.”
For more information visit www.bipartisanart.com
