A Bat-a-Day from Lady A

What's a Bat-a-Day?

The short answer is "a public art project."

Here's the long answer:

Inspired by Noah Scalin's far more creative and far more interesting Skull-a-Day project, starting October 1st, I'm going to create a bat every day for a month in celebration of my favoritest of all holidays: Halloween. I have no motivations other than wanting to do something creative every day, and wanting to bring a little something unexpected into my urban and increasingly critter-free environment.

Why a bat?

Easy. I like bats. They are unique in the animal kingdom, and despite being helpful, fascinating little creatures, here in the States, they are regarded as creepy, nasty, rabies carrying beasts that drink blood* and get caught in people's hair. They are associated with vampires, ghosts, death and disease. Although their highly social behavior can make them good carriers of pathogens, only .05% of all bats actually carry rabies. Bats are far more beneficial to the environment than harmful to those who dwell within it.

Fruit bats are vital to the pollination of flowers and disperse seeds in many tropical regions, and the American Big brown bat ranks among America’s most beneficial animals due to its bug-eating prowess.

To create a bat every day is to meditate on the maligned, misunderstood and misrepresented. Besides, with potential disaster looming on the horizon for America's bats, the little guys need all the good press they can get.

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* Some of them do, in fact, drink blood. I speak of the infamous vampire bats, of course. To me, this is a big part of their cool factor.