Early last week on a gray and chilly morning we met with Jan Walsh, the artist behind "Louie the Lobster". We spent about an hour with her learning about the Plymouth Lobster Crawl and discovering the lobsters along the waterfront.
The lobster statues found throughout Plymouth are part the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce Lobster Crawl. A public art display featuring 29 lobsters, each one sponsored by a local business. The lobsters are about five feet tall and each one is unique. The plan is for the display to be up for about two years but they are well loved and may stay up longer.
Photo Credit: Jan Walsh
We were very lucky to get the inside scoop about the creation of "Louie the Lobster" from the artist herself. Along our walk, Jan told us about the process of creating "Louie". It started with a competition early last year where designs were submitted to create different lobsters. Jan's design was chosen. At the beginning of last summer, Jan picked up "Louie" from a large shipment of white fiberglass lobsters. "Louie" lived in her garage for about a month as she painted him. When he was completed he took up residence at the fishing dock where you can find him today.
photo credit: Jan Walsh
"Louie" is sponsored by the Plymouth Bay Lobster Company and he is dressed in a yellow rain suit with a yellow and red buoy in his pocket. The buoy color denotes the Plymouth Bay Lobster Company lobster traps when they are in the ocean. Lobsters are not always the first thing I associate with Plymouth but Plymouth is one of the largest lobster ports in the area which is why they were chosen for this special art project.
There is more to the Plymouth Lobster Crawl then just the painted lobsters around town. Jan was also an illustrated on a book called "Tails" of America's Hometown, Plymouth Massachusetts which tells about each lobster.
We had a fabulous time visiting some of the lobsters and learning about how they went from a plain white piece of fiberglass to each one having a unique personality and story to tell. Check out all 29 lobsters this summer. Our favorite is "Louie" Jack loves his yellow coat and Ali like that "he looks friendly". Let us know which one you like best!
More information about the Plymouth Lobster Crawl can be found at www.plymouthchamber.com/lobster
You can get a free map or purchase the book "Tails" of America's Hometown, Plymouth Massachusetts by Claudine LeBlanc Reid and Illustrated by Jan Walsh at the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce and many other local businesses.
Thank you so much to Jan Walsh for being our guide along the Lobster Crawl!!
