A couple of weekends ago, I visited Bristol to take part in the charity sculpture walk "Gromit Unleashed". I have been looking forward to this since January, when I first heard about it. Bristol hosted Wow! Gorillas in Bristol a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed visiting them and interacting with the mobile phone application that enabled me to find them and to mark them as discovered. This may sound a little bit sad, but I have been looking forward to "Gromit Unleashed" more than anything else this year.
'Bunty' by Paula Bowles
For those readers who do not know, Gromit is the famous canine in the Wallace and Gromit short animations. Gromit appeared in a full-length feature film a few years ago called 'The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'. Aardman Studios, the company that created Wallace and Gromit, also created the film Chicken Run.
'Salty Sea Dog' by Peter Lord; 'The King' by Stephen McKay; 'Bark at Ee' by Leigh Flurry - outside Aardman Studios
Aardman Studios are based in Bristol, and they, along with many other businesses in and around Bristol, are sponsoring the "Gromit Unleashed" sculpture charity trail. The sculptures feature Gromit, painted and interpreted by artists; there are eighty of these unique Gromit sculptures to be discovered. All money made from merchandise and apps purchased, as well as the sale of the Gromits at the auction this fall, will be donated to Bristol Children's Hospital. This is for a good cause and gets artists and the public involved.
'What a Wind Up!' by Trevor Bayliss
I have added a few photographs of some of my favourite photographs and Gromits. (I'll also be adding another entry to display even more photographs from my weekend of discovering Gromits.) Each Gromit is uniquely designed: from comical Gromits covered with a bucket of black paint to strawberry Gromits to blueprint-machine Gromits to Union Jack Gromits to astronaut or pirate Gromits.
'Being Gromit Malkovich' by Thomas Dowdeswell; 'Watch Out, Gromit' by Gerald Scarfe; 'Gromberry' by Simon Tozer; 'Gromit-o-Matic' by Donough O'Malley; 'Jack' by Martin Band; 'Astro' by Ignition DG
I have selected a few nice Gromits to showcase. More information about these selected Gromits is below.
Tim Miness was inspired by the Bristol engineer (and creator of the Clifton Suspension Bridge), Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He created a gorilla sculpture a couple of years ago for Wow! Gorillas. Since the gorilla was so well-received, he used the same idea for his Isambark Kingdog Brunel sculpture, shown below. The detail on the back side of the sculpture shows a painting with a scene of a rocket from Wallace and Gromit above the Clifton Suspension Bridge, an icon of Bristol and work of Brunel.
'Isambark Kingdog Brunel' by Tim Miness
The Royal Mint worked with artist Stephanie Roberts to create a mosaic using ten thousand one pence pieces. The medallian on the back side of the Gromit was designed by Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park.
'National Treasure' by The Royal Mint
Gav Strange's Gromit uses interesting typography and imagery to display statistics and facts about Aardman and 'Wallace and Gromit'. I have photographed a few of these and included them below.
'Stat's the way to do it, Lad!' by Gav Strange
Tom Deams' Gromit sculpture of a Gromit dressed as a super hero includes a street art mural. Deams is a street artist based in Bristol. (It was nice to see Gromit with street art and to see Wallace and Gromit looking very street.)
'Hero' by Tom Deams
Joanna Lumley created a poetry-laden Gromit that is painted with fragments of poems. Sadly, this Gromit was damaged by vandals about a day after the launch of the exhibit. I was happy to see it repaired and back on the street.
'Poetry in Motion' by Joanna Lumley
The following Gromit was created by the creator of 'Wallace and Gromit', Nick Park. He wanted to create a Gromit with witty headlines as used in the films.
'Newshound' by Nick Park
Julie Vernon's Gromit is golden; it was inspired by golden Buddha statues in Thailand and the post boxes painted gold for the Olympic games (Gold Post Boxes Celebrate Olympic Gold Medals).
'Golden Gromit' by Julie Vernon
Sarah Matthews was inspired by the city of Bristol to create these illustrations with scenes of the city.
'Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion' by Sarah Matthews
After a day of visiting as many of the Gromits in the city centre as possible, I stopped off at the hotel in Clifton where I enjoyed views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I also enjoyed a Gromit-shaped shortbread and chocolate biscuit.
Gromit biscuits
Have you been to see the Gromits yet? Which one is your favoruite?
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