Henrietta

"...a father/son team of sculptors in Salt Lake City, Jared and Orthel Fairbanks, created Our Little Angel. Today, there are more than 30 of the angels in the United States, plus one in Australia and two in progress in Canada.

D´Orazio said the Eagle [a town near Boise] angel should be the next one, and hopes to have her in place in Arboretum Park right next to City Hall by spring. The Eagle City Council approved the statue´s placement, but some have objected to putting a religious figure on government property. Nevertheless, D´Orazio remains hopeful the issue will be resolved. " Idaho Statesman (I would link to it but it's a daily)

A local couple whose son was killed in a gun accident are raising money to buy an angel statue to be placed in a local public park. Apparently this is somewhat of a trend that started with a little book about an angel. I can feel for these people but wonder why this is going up in a public park.

I have mixed feeling about this. I don't really consider angels to be religious figures (except particular ones like Maroni) but more like pop culture, like fairies or trolls or something. I actually like the wooden angels they carve in the southwest. I realize to a lot of people they are religious symbols and I'm sure in this case they are meant to be. There's also the question of art. If it's great art (which I doubt this is) then maybe the subject matter shouldn't matter.

Here's a site that talks about the book, the sculpure and lists 26 sites that already have these angels.
<a href="http://www.richardpaulevans.com/statue.html" target="_blank">Little Angel</a>

theyeti

Forget separation of church and state. I would protest the placement of those angels because they look STUPID. Public spaces should be preserved for higher caliber art. Heck, I'll even take a Christo wrapping over a dumb little angel; at least his work sparks conversation.

theyeti

Mageth

I don't mind this one so much. It seems to be more of a memorial to a lost child than a religious thing. And medieval art is full of angels of all sorts. Here's an example from the Lincoln Cathedral in England: