The Birth of the Bay Bottom Blotch
As a RISD senior in 1976, my specialty was creating large-scale body sculpture and masks to be worn in my original performance art pieces. My uncle, Aaron Cohen, one of my biggest fans, heard through a close friend working with Save The Bay that the organization was looking for a mascot to appear at an early fundraising meeting, to hit home the message that pollution in the Bay was a serious problem, with dire consequences. I earned the commission with my proposal for the creation of a weary, soggy, beleaguered creature called the Bay Bottom Blotch, who’d climb out of the bay, appear in the meeting room and deliver an impassioned speech about his intolerable living conditions. How could funders possibly ignore such a poignant plea? It was my first such ‘experiential marketing’ commission and it set the stage for my career designing creative community engagement solutions illuminating significant issues of our times. That first experience with Save the Bay, showed me the power artists can wield in collaboration with organizations working for a better world. ~Amy Cohen