2009 Year in Review: When the lows were lower and the highs were really, really high

Comments (0) By Jonathan Shikes Thursday, Dec 31 2009

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As if we didn't have enough coyote problems in 2009, a 150-pound, $25,000 sculpture of a coyote and its pup was stolen from Lakewood's Coyote Gulch Park in May. The bronze piece, called "Maternal Wrap," was made by artist Tim Cherry in 1997.

Nothing polarized the good citizenry of Colorado last year more than "Mustang," the bright-blue, 32-foot-tall fiberglass sculpture by New Mexico artist Luis Jiménez, which has been glaring at visitors to Denver International Airport since it was very belatedly installed in 2008. But the debate took a new turn in early 2009 when local real-estate agent Rachel Hultin created a Facebook page calling for the 9,000-pound sculpture's removal. "Is anyone else as mortified and offended by DIA's fiendish blue 'Mustang' statue as I am? Does anyone else find it to be the least welcoming public art exhibit imaginable?" she asked on her page, DIA's Heinous Blue Mustang Has Got To Go. "Are you perturbed by the chilling fact that Luis Jimenez, its creator, was killed by a piece of its torso?" The debate attracted national attention and culminated in a haiku contest at the Denver Public Library, in which people from all walks of life discussed the sculpture in poetry. Months later, the debate had died down — and "Mustang"? Its red eyes declare victory every night.