Ceremonies and festivities are commonplace during the week leading up to the 81st Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. On Thursday morning, two tire sculptures inspired by the Western Michigan and Wisconsin mascots were unveiled at the Omni Hotel in Dallas.
Both sculptures were constructed entirely of Goodyear tires by recycled materials artist Blake McFarland. McFarland put in over 300 hours of work to construct these masterpieces in San José, which currently sit on pedestals at the Omni Hotel.
McFarland is a tire artist and minor league baseball pitcher, commissioned by Goodyear for this project. About 500 tires were used in the hand-making of the two mascot figures, which weigh about 400 pounds apiece.