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Woody La Planteoccupies a place in the history of the Toledo Zoo. At the age of 19, he worked as an Artist for the WPA, painting murals and backdrops at The Toledo Zoo. Fifty-five years later, he was contacted by Zoo officials to see if he would again consider lending his artistic talents to the Zoo.Many of the original murals were destroyed in the 1970's when the decision was made to scrape the walls and paint over them, although a few murals did survive. Mr. La Plante was hired to restore many of those old murals. He was also asked to paint new backdrops in the reptile and aviary habitats as part of the 50th anniversary of WPA work at the zoo. Each animal is carefully researched so that the indigenous flora and fauna of their native habitat are replictaed. The murals were funded by a grant awarded by the Arts Council of Greater Toledo and the Ohio Arts Council. |
| Woody is the last survivor of the three artists who did the original WPA murals. The other artists were Paul Breisach and Fritz Boehmer. Mr. La Plante has also restored some of their work at the zoo. After studying art at the Keane Art School, University of Toledo, and Toledo Museum of Art, Mr. Laplante became a staff artist for The Toledo Blade newspaper, working there 37 years until his retirement in 1982. |
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Mr.La Plante continues to enjoy the unofficial title of "Resident Artist" at the Toledo Zoo and recently celebrated his 81st Birthday!
Woody, we salute you!
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URL:http://users.ipfw.edu/zeppp.Nature/laplante.html |