For the Birds, Fine Art Takes a Back Seat to Sign Painting

by Bette R. Than-you,



With December's studio rent due and a shortage of art sales, North Carolina artist Leslie Pearson resorts to sign painting for a little extra cash.

"I'm a little shell shocked," admitted Pearson, who usually boasts sales of $100,000.00 or more annually. "I expected my solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to do a little better than it did; most of my shows in New York sell out during the opening reception."

While Pearson has been incorporating bird imagery in many of her recent paintings and mixed media works, these signs might just put her over the edge. She's painting four, 7ft Big Birds for some new daycare centers opening up in the Fayetteville, NC area.

"When I got the call about doing the signs I had to laugh," said Pearson. "I mean, the thought of painting so many life size Big Birds is pretty funny. I thought it was a prank call at first; believe me, I nearly peed my pants. But when the daycare administrator told me about all those little kids who kept getting lost on their way to the Rumpus Room, I knew I had to do something to help."





In the dog-eat-dog, competitive art world, it's rare to find such a high profile artist who will do this kind of "good will" work. In this case, Pearson is no different; like I said, she was short a couple hundred bucks for her studio rent.

If you or anyone else you know would like to have some signs painted, Pearson can be contacted at..., oh, excuse me, Pearson has asked that she never be contacted about painting any more signs.



Editors note: The Onion will not be held responsible for any medical expenses associated with readers who ask Pearson if she can tell them how to get to Sesame Street.