The Council of Animals (what to do about the monkeys) is a piece to encourage dialogue amongst the planetary family. Three large metal animals - an elephant, a polar bear, and a rhino - make up the judges. Coyote is here too, with his fancy burning earth talking stick, as lawyer. There are benches for the monkeys.
Physical description:
The three judges are faceted steel, their massive bulk and iconic character rendered in clean geometry. They're all seated, on their butts, focused on Coyote and the 2-leggeds. Coyote stands on 2 legs, like his clients, leaning on a fancy talking stick for support, and standing on a metal platform. His talking stick has a globe-themed burner at the top. Behind him are benches of reclaimed wood.
The sculpted animals are large and visually striking enough to draw people in, the benches provide a resting place for dialogue. Which is the real goal of the piece - under the focused gaze of the judges, the participants will be encouraged to have meaningful conversations about what we're doing as planetary cohabitants. Or just hang out and enjoy watching Coyotes flaming staff light up the sculptural forms. Or make some new friends. Of course, they'll probably want to climb all over the animals, and that's OK too.
The meaning:
It was a surprise, as a young person, when I realized that none of my classmates thought of themselves as animals, that they thought of themselves as somehow separate, superior, like we were dropped in from another reality. I grew up close to the dirt, with animals as friends and foes alike, as equals. So it was a shock, in that fifth grade classroom -wait, what? I've been thinking about it ever since.
We are one family, on one planet. The human race, the elephant race, all of the animal & insect & fish & plant races, we are all part of the same family. Humans are not special! We are just good at using our hands, and equipped with powerful minds. We can use them to do better, we can make up for our past mistakes, we have a judgement to answer to. And we can. We can make the world a wonderful place for all of our family. But we must choose to do so, and engage a positive future.
So, this piece. To be judged, by the animals. We're all in it together, we are one family. Let's talk about it.