The Public Art of Skip Dyrda
Clowns Around Town
This project supported the children’s services program at Tidewell Hospice in Sarasota. Dozens of sponsors each commissioned an artist to paint or decorate a full‑size resin clown, displayed for the community to enjoy. I was selected to create two clowns—one sponsored by ESPN basketball announcer. Dick Vitale, and his wife Lorraine and another by the Cincinnati Reds who, at the time, made Sarasota their spring training location for years.
Dipsy Doo Dunkeroo
For the clown sponsored by Dick and Lorraine Vitale, I transformed the original full‑size white resin figure into a playful caricature of Dick himself. The clowns arrived as one solid piece in standard clown attire, but I rebuilt this one—removing the ruffled collar, reshaping the limbs, and reconfiguring the head—so he appeared in basketball shorts and a tank top, complete with a new face and a full set of teeth. I painted him with plenty of humor, adding details like a bandage on his bald head, SpongeBob SquarePants underwear, a Notre Dame tattoo, and a real basketball.
Dipsy Doo Dunkeroos butt showing his special SpongeBob Squarepants undies and that Notre Dame tatoo.
Dipsy Doo Dunkeroo’s bald head, showing off his special bandaide.
The day my first clown was delivered. As you can see, they were a little…well, clownish? My guy needed to look like a basketball player, so out came the surgical equipment.
And here he is, all put back together again…almost. There was still work to do on his arms, legs and neck area, plus it still had to be painted. Fun project and for a good cause.
Homer
The second clown was originally assigned to another artist who never completed the piece, so I was asked to finish it. Intended to resemble a baseball player, the figure still wore the original ruffled collar and what looked like red pajamas. I rebuilt the sculpture—removing the ruffles, reshaping the arms, and giving him short sleeves and a proper uniform—to create a true Cincinnati Reds player. Each clown in the project was paired with a “VIP artist”; for this one it was supposedly Jerry Springer, who lived in Sarasota at the time, though he never participated.
The is the way I received the second clown. I assume that it was only partially finished by the previous artist. So they asked me to ‘finish it’. I had to fix it first.
So I removed most of his arms so that he had short sleeves, which meant that I had to build arms from scratch. I also removed those silly ruffles from around his neck.
And here he is, completed. Now he looks like a baseball player…a silly baseball player, but one nonetheless.
His back has his name, Homer, of course, and he has to mind everyone that he’s #1. And that’s a flyer for Skyline Chili in his pocket as well as an opera ticket.
Homer decided to have a Tidewell Hospice tatoo on his arm. I made his hair out of a very cheap plastic whisk broom.
A Hello Kittie Bandaide on his arm.
And I painted this on his knee. Me being a Phillies fan, I thought it would be fun that he used a Phillies Bandaide on his booboo.