 | ||
Similar Bristol Royal Hospital f, Cribbs Causeway, Royal West of England Academy, Arnolfini, Clifton Suspension Bridge | ||
The gromit unleashed exhibition bbc points west
Gromit Unleashed was a public charity art trail led by Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal and Aardman Animations, in which 80 giant artist-decorated fibreglass sculptures of Gromit were displayed on the streets of Bristol and the surrounding area between 1 July and 8 September 2013. At the end of the art trail, the sculptures were auctioned to raise funds for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity. The Grand Appeal pledged to raise £3.5 million for state-of-the-art equipment for Bristol Children's Hospital, including an intraoperative MRI scanner, family facilities and child-friendly artwork to help save the lives of sick children at the hospital. All funds raised by Gromit Unleashed contributed towards this. The project follows the concept of the "Land in Sicht", the original Swiss project by artistic director Walter Knapp which inspired the subsequent worldwide exhibition "CowParade" and similar exhibitions in other cities, including Wow! Gorillas which took place in Bristol in 2011. To date Gromit Unleashed has raised over £5 million for Bristol Children's Hospital.
Contents
- The gromit unleashed exhibition bbc points west
- The making of golden gromit gromit unleashed
- Gromit
- Sculptures
- Auction
- List of Gromit sculptures
- References
The making of golden gromit gromit unleashed
Gromit
Gromit is a dog belonging to an eccentric inventor, Wallace, in a series of claymation films produced by Aardman Animations, three of which have won Academy Awards: The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Sculptures
On 1 July 2013, 80 fibreglass decorated sculptures of Gromit were distributed around Bristol and the nearby rural area. One was also placed at London Paddington station. A few days later two were vandalised, causing some public outrage. Sculptures were decorated by a range of artists and celebrities, including Joanna Lumley, Sir Peter Blake, Trevor Baylis and Jools Holland. The Royal Mint and mosaic artist Stephanie Roberts created a special Royal Mint Gromit, decorated with coins. US Animation studio Pixar contributed Gromit Lightyear, based on their character Buzz Lightyear. The sculptures were auctioned in October to raise funds for Bristol Children's Hospital.
In addition a number of smaller Gromit sculptures were distributed to schools and community groups to decorate. Bristol tourism staff have estimated that Gromit Unleashed could bring as much as £58 million to the city during the two-month display, with many visitors expected from the United States and Japan, where Wallace and Gromit are popular. A smart phone app, named Detect-O-Gromit, aimed at helping users find the Gromit sculptures, had 5,400 downloads on its first day, raising over £2,000 for the Grand Appeal. The local media reported on the use of a new word "Gromiting", being used on social media sites to describe the search for the sculptures.
Auction
On 3 October 2013 the statues were auctioned off at a special event hosted by Sotheby's auctioneer and TV presenter Tim Wonnacott and raised £2,357,000 for charity. The Gromit which attracted the highest bid was Gromit Lightyear, designed by Disney Pixar and based on the Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear which sold for £65,000.
Bark at 'Ee was sold for £20,000 to David Clarke, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law at Bristol University in November, 2013
List of Gromit sculptures
