By Staff
Athletic Management, 18.5, August/September 2006, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1805/wuterps.htm
What weighs 100 pounds, stands four and a half feet tall, and promotes University of Maryland athletics? The answer is a fiberglass sculpture of Testudo, Maryland’s mascot, and there are currently 50 of them placed around the campus and its surrounding community.
They are the centerpiece of the school’s “Fear the Turtle” project, which began two years ago as part of the school’s 150th anniversary celebration. In the fall of 2005, a local sculptor was hired to cast the turtles and a call was issued to artists to submit designs. A panel of artists chose 50 winners, and the university’s marketing department lined up sponsors to pay $4,000 apiece to underwrite each of the sculptures.
Adrienne Burrows was one of the winning artists and her sculpture, titled “27 Sports, 1 Team,” features the school’s logo on the front and its athletic teams listed in a periodic table on the back. “People gather around the sculptures, take pictures, and really enjoy themselves,” says Burrows. “I think it gets them excited about the athletic program.”
To promote the sculptures, the university is running advertisements on television, featuring photos of all 50 works of art on its Web site, and encouraging fans to vote online for their favorites. This fall, as the project ends, some of the sculptures will remain on campus and others will be auctioned off, with all the proceeds going to a general scholarship fund.
“The effort has attracted enthusiasm from all corners of the university,” says Cassandra Robinson, Assistant Director of University Communications, who helped coordinate the project. “There were a lot of details to take care of, but once you see people’s eyes light up, it definitely feels worth it. It has helped make people feel engaged with the university.”
For more information and photos, see:
www.feartheturtle.umd.edu/sculptures/.