The Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble, a public art festival that opened in September, includes a wolf decorated to carry the message of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Food ...For Thought! marketing program that brings North Carolina’s citizens facts on food, farming and agriculture.

Sponsored by the College and the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation Inc., the wolf sculpture artistically proclaims, “Remember, your food doesn’t come just from a grocery store.”

Created by Sandy Shultz Smith, graphic artist in the College’s Department of Communication Services, and artist David Eichenberger, the wolf was painted with images of many of the state’s agricultural food commodities, such as grapes, sweetpotatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, squash and peppers. The College’s wolf “howls” in front of Patterson Hall on the university campus.

More than 100 red wolf sculptures were placed throughout the city in parks, pedestrian thoroughfares, shopping centers, small businesses and downtown area locations. Each fiberglass form provided a canvas for an artist to enhance with paint and three-dimensional add-ons.

The red wolf was selected by the Raleigh Arts Commission as the city’s animal “canvas” because it is an endangered species special to North Carolina, is an animal of character and has rich associations for story telling and caricature.

—Terri Leith