"Animals Dancing in a Circle," based on Henry Matisse's "Dance I," is a favorite piece of April Rutherford, a Hawaiian Humane Society volunteer whose animal-centric works will be displayed at Saturday's Tuxes & Tails fund-raising dinner, subtitled "Petropolitan Museum of Art."

An artist interprets
the classics, inspired
by her love of animals

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By Joleen Oshiro
joshiro@starbulletin.com

Tuxes & Tails Fund-raiser for the Hawaiian Humane Society: When: 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday Place: Monarch Room, Royal Hawaiian Hotel Tickets: $200 Call: Lacy Hickman at 946-2187, Ext. 213

Committing oneself to the welfare of animals may have its roots in the altruistic, moral sensibilities of our humanity. Yet there's no philosophical principle to soften the fact that caring for animals is simply hard work.

The staff and volunteers of the Hawaiian Humane Society surely do their share, including rescue, shelter, adoption services, and education and support for the two-legged caretakers of the animals of Honolulu.

Yet one magical night each year, these workers take off their furry T-shirts and jeans, shampoo the earthy perfume of dogs and cats from their hair, shake out their beaded gowns, air out their tuxes and, like Cinderella headed for the ball, step out for a black-tie evening. The gala is called "Tuxes & Tails," the humane society's biggest fund-raising event, and this year it takes place Saturday, replete with cocktails, music, auctions and a gourmet dinner.

A $200 ticket treats supporters to a cocktail-hour visit with volunteers' dogs on the Ocean Lanai; cuisine by chefs Roy Yamaguchi, Russell Siu, Göran Streng and Daniel Delbrel; and silent and live auctions offering such temptations as travel packages, jewelry, artwork and a dinner for 20 at Yamaguchi's home. The goal this year is to raise $190,000.

"Screaming Rabbit" takes off on Edvard Munch's "The Scream."

FOLLOWING LAST YEAR'S theme, "Hurray for Hollywoof," and the previous year's "Woofstock," "Tuxes & Tails'" auspicious theme for 2003 is "The Petropolitan Museum of Art."

"They're planning to make the place look like an art gallery," says volunteer April Rutherford, an adopted mom of two humane society cats. Rutherford designed the invitations, programs and dining room decorations, as well as the "artwork" for the Petropolitan Museum.

"I looked up pieces from my old art history books, picked paintings that are masterpieces everyone knows, then turned them into animal pieces," Rutherford says. "They're to decorate to the 'gallery' walls."

Her engaging, humorous pieces are take-offs on works by such masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Edvard Munch. The logo for the "Petropolitan Museum of Art" was adapted from a picture of the Metropolitan Museum of Art building, with its grand columns and banners. "I replaced the columns with bones and put faces of animals on the banners," Rutherford says with a chuckle.

An art director in an advertising firm, Rutherford says she enjoys her job, yet regrets rarely being able to draw, an enjoyment she cultivated studying illustration in college. Her volunteer work for "Tuxes & Tails" allowed her that luxury again. "It was fun finding the different pieces of art and then adapting to each style."

"Smiling Yellow Dog Covering Mouth with Paw" is drawn from Pablo Picasso's "Dora Maar Seated."

Among her favorites is a work depicting animals dancing together in ring-around-the-rosy fashion, adapted from Matisse's "Dance" painting, which she says "really created the overall feeling of the dance."

But she seems to have the greatest fondness for the piece she adapted from Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" painting, with Adam's arm reaching out to a heavenly paw.

"I like the play on the 'dog-god' thing, you know how they say 'dog' spelled backwards is ...," she says. "And since it's a benefit for animals ... it's just a grand thing."

Rutherford's work was so well-received among "Tails & Tuxes" organizers that she found herself adapting more paintings than she had planned, and the pieces, intended as decorations, may end up being auctioned off as well.

"I ended up doing 11 pieces, and then there's that famous picture of the dogs playing poker, which makes 12. You know the joke about that painting being bad art? That's the only one I didn't have to adapt, and this time, it fits."

The portrait above is based on Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa"

FOUNDED IN 1897, the humane society has been seeing to animal welfare for 106 years. Its mission continues to be "preventing cruelty to animals and promoting the bond between people and animals," says Eve Holt, humane society spokeswoman.

"So much of what we do is education," Holt says. "People usually spend more time on selecting a car than selecting a pet. The car, they keep maybe two or three years, but an animal is a commitment of 15 or 20 years. We want people to think carefully when they're planning to get a pet, so that that pet can live out its entire life in one family. The number of homeless animals in Hawaii and the entire country is the biggest ongoing animal issue. And it's not a problem the animals have created, but people have."

Rutherford couldn't agree more. "I feel for animals in our human world. Think of a homeless dog on a freeway. Our is a dangerous world for animals, and they need protection."

"Man's Hand Reaching for Dog's Paw," is based on Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam."

Yet while animals may be solely dependent upon humans to fulfill their needs, humans have need of animals as well.

"We did a study number of years ago in Honolulu asking if companionship with animals is important to our quality of life," says Holt. "Ninety-six percent of people said yes, and these were both pet owners and people without pets. It showed how important animals are to our human lives and how the animal-human bond fulfills a need on both sides.

"Animals are such an intrinsic joy in and of themselves. They provide a fullness and richness to life that very few things can provide."

It was that very sentiment Rutherford tried to express in the adapted masterpieces. "The animals in our lives are masterpieces," she says. "They bring love and beauty into our lives. That's the idea I was trying to get across, but in a fun way."

April Rutherford's logo for the fund-raising event is her reflection on the facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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