Starting next month, a few more squirrels will call Penn home.
The Penn Art Club will be placing between 20 and 25 larger-than-life squirrel statues on Locust Walk and College Green between March 16 and April 19.
The group is following in the footsteps of cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles which in the past have featured cows, angels or other figures decorated by prominent artists.
The fiberglass squirrels, sculpted by College senior Sean Williams, will be provided unpainted to academic departments and student organizations that sponsor them.
Decorating the squirrels will be left to the sponsors, but the groups can receive "artistic guidance from the Art Club," available upon request, according to the club's Web site.
Wharton senior, Art Club board member and director of the project John Agbaje said they chose squirrels because they "are an interesting parallel to student life."
Like students, squirrels are "curious and do surprising things," he said.
"When walking down Locust Walk, people only kind of look at people flyering," College junior and Student Activities Council chairwoman Natalie Vernon said, explaining that the squirrels will draw more attention to the groups that purchase them.
She added that SAC will be sponsoring a squirrel.
Excess funds from the project will be used to renovate the art studio in the basement of Hill College House and to purchase art supplies.
Agbaje said the studio will be useful for students who "can't take official fine arts classes but want to express themselves."
And so far, student groups are heeding the club's call to "express themselves through the squirrel," as College sophomore and Art Club member Harrison Tenzer said.
College junior and Penn Dance co-chairwoman Alix Winter said her group will be sponsoring a squirrel.
"We hope decorating the squirrel will be a fun bonding activity for the group," she said.
Daniel Eisenberg, College senior and president of the International Affairs Association, said the organization is sponsoring a squirrel because "it's a good cause and we have a little extra money in our budget."
"It's a great way of getting the IAA name out there," he added.
Although Eisenberg said the plan is "currently in limbo," he said the group will most likely use "SuperMUN" as their theme. This portmanteau of "Superman" and the group's Model United Nations conference is also found on the group's T-shirts.
The Art Club will continue to accept sponsorship applications through Sunday.
This story was changed at 4:30 on Feb. 13 to reflect that John Agbaje is a Wharton senior.
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