Roseville’s newest art installation is already causing double- and triple- takes from passers by.

The colorful, cat-themed sculpture adjacent to the firehouse in Historic Old Town stands at nearly eight feet tall and at first glance doesn’t reveal the clever puns and design elements that a closer inspection provides.

“I don’t get it, why is it all cats?,” said Tyler Frye, who stopped in his tracks while walking past the sculpture with his family.

While some may approach the piece in search of a deeper meaning, Auburn artist Virginia Dains wants residents to know they won’t find one, no matter how hard they stare.

“It’s just supposed to be fun,” said Dains, who owns two cats. “I didn’t create it to illustrate a point or raise peoples’ ires, it’s just supposed to be enjoyed. Isn’t that the point of art?”

Titled “Firehouse Dog Totem” the sculpture marks the city’s third art installation as part of the Downtown Public Art Program that began in 2008.

The cat-centric piece joins other art pieces scattered throughout downtown Roseville and Historic Old Town including a bronze statue in the Magic Circle’s Roseville Theatre on Vernon street and the statue “Choice” that stood at the intersection of Church and Main streets until it was vandalized in September.

The totem is a play on stereotyped firefighter scenarios, namely the call of a kitten stuck in a tree.

At the top of the totem, a small kitten awaits help from a crew of Dalmatian firefighters who are shown ambling up the structure to its rescue.

Made of recycled Styrofoam and then covered in ceramics and cement, the piece also features a solar-powered LED lighting system to illuminate the totem at night.

The piece also takes cues from city life and riffs on a few Roseville landmarks such as the Blue Line Gallery, which is renamed the Feline Gallery.

Three cutouts feature tempered glass enclosed vignettes of cat lifestyle and allow residents to peek in at cats dancing in a ballroom, enjoying a dinner of fresh fish and hanging out at home watching TV.

“It’s supposed to be like a cat apartment building with all these cat-themed landmarks around it,” Dains said.

A Yarny’s toy store is shown selling balls of yarn, there’s Sand Box plumbing for litter box ailments and, in what Dains calls the “seedy” part of town, a storefront advertises discounted catnip.

“I think besides the Feline Gallery, my favorite part is Blacky, Tiger, Socks and Thumbelina Cattorneys at Claw,” Dains said. “Coming up with the puns was the most fun.”

Despite the silly side, Dains said she did incorporate a sizeable amount of research into the cat-centric project.

“I didn’t want a true-blue cat person looking at this project and say, ‘An American bobtail cat would never do that’ or something,” said Dains, who is an artist by hobby and a biological scientist by career.

Dains also incorporated Ancient Egyptian lore by including the cat goddess Bastet, who the Egyptians worshipped as mcuh as their domesticated pets.

“Oh it’s just lovely,” said Ola Wright, a Roseville resident out for an afternoon walk. “I just have to stop and look at it, it’s so beautiful. All those colors, gorgeous.”

This is not the first art project to receive citywide recognition. Dains is the artist behind the fish sign at Overlook Park in Auburn. She will also create Roseville’s fourth and final art piece with the Downtown Public Art Program, a concrete bench that will be installed at the Tower Theater later this year.

Megan Wood can be reached at meganw@goldcountrymedia.com