A couple of weeks ago another bit of guerrilla knitting popped up near where I work. This is on Mount Royal Avenue, which is heavily traversed by MICA students. So, I suspect it was one of them who put this up. On one side it says “Hey Hon” and on another side is this artfully sculpted flamingo. I’m not sure whether the bird is knitted or crocheted, but it certainly makes the piece.
I am really not a big fan of pink flamingos. Yet, for some reason it is traditional to have them all over the place in Baltimore. I tried to research why they are so popular here, but to no avail. But, I did find that in 1957 Don Featherstone designed and marketed the first plastic lawn flamingo. Previously, the company he worked for, Union Products, made only flat lawn ornaments (including flamingos). This young sculptor first made a duck for the company, and then developed the plastic flamingo sculpture. As both lawns and bright colors were popular during the 1950s, these ornaments became very popular.
Plastic pink flamingos have gone in and out of fashion in many places but have become a city symbol here in Baltimore. Some first associate our city with them because of the John Waters film Pink Flamingos (Roger Ebert viewed it with distress). In recent years they have popped up in droves on Baltimore lawns and are often used to represent kitschy hospitality in the city. This winter, Ravens fans took the flamingo craze to a new level by adding flocks of purple and black flamingos to their lawns. As baseball season opens, many are replacing the purple flamingos with orange ones, to display the orange and black colors of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.
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