Archive for the 'Go-Penguins' Category

Home Bargains and Go Penguins have boosted Liverpool Lord Mayor’s Charity Appeal by an astonishing £20,000 – just weeks into the public art extravaganza and months before its gala auction is due to take place.

The profits were generated by the sale of miniature paint-your-own penguin sets which were sold in Home Bargains stores across the country to raise money for the Charity Appeal.

The penguin art sets literally ‘flew off’ the shelves and have now completely sold out within a month of going on sale.

Joe Morris, Operations Director at Home Bargains, said: “The paint-your-own penguin competition was a great way to raise money for charity while giving our customers the chance to play an active part in the Go Penguins project. They were a massive hit with our customers; we could have easily sold two or three times the amount we ordered.”

A specially designed mini penguin representing the £20,000 donation will be handed over to Liverpool’s Lord Mayor  in Liverpool Town Hall. Continue reading ‘Mini Penguins Raise £20,000 for Charity’

'Splashy' and 'Around The World in Many Ways'

We were out at 7 a.m. today to see our Go Penguin arrive at the suitcases on Hope Street. The artinliverpool.com penguin, ‘Splashy‘ who was designed and painted by Julie Dodd looks fantastic, as do all the other penguins.

They’ll be appearing all over the city today – and some in St Helens and the Wirral too and will be here until 10 January 2010 after which many will be auctioned. There is a trail map available from the tourist information centres and pictures of all the penguins in our penguin gallery

Here’s a few more early morning pictures…

'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' and 'Little Ray of Hope and Sunshine'

'El Penguino' and 'Windy Peng'

'Mr Memory' and 'King Rat'

Many thanks to the artist, Nicola Windever, for mentioning the ArtInLiverpool blog on Radio Merseyside last night.

TV and radio star Paul O’Grady has created his first work of public art – a penguin as an old lady!

The chat show host has created the funny character for Liverpool’s major public art event of the year – Go Penguins, which will see more than 200 of the creatures spread across the city over the Christmas period.

Paul’s ‘Owl Ma Penguin’ design is inspired from childhood memories of ladies that were locally called “Mary Ellen’s”, and has used the five foot penguin to try to recreate the ‘old Spirit of Liverpool’.

The award-winning entertainer explained: ‘’You don’t see them anymore but they were complete with hair curlers, wrinkly stockings, an old mac and a ‘spud’ basket.’’

Paul’s creation has some typical O’Grady touches such as a leopard skin head scarf and old ladies slippers, with a fur trim.

The BBC Radio 2 presenter got involved in the project as a supporter for the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), which is debating to put certain Penguins on their species at risk register.  Liverpool’s Go Penguins project is the highlight event of the city’s Year of the Environment and is being used to highlight the dangers of global warming and polar ice melting.

’Owl Ma’ (the owl is a Liverpuldian phrase for old) will take pride of place at The Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool City Centre.

Paul said: ‘’Penguins are fantastic little animals and it’s heartbreaking to think what we’re doing to the earth is threatening their very existence. If my attempt at being Leonardo Da Vinci can help people stop, have a laugh and think about global warming then I’ll be very happy.

‘’I had a real ball doing this design – I wanted to create the image of some of the women who you would see around Paddy’s flower market or on their way to their cleaning jobs.

‘’I think the Go Penguins idea is fantastic and I hope to get back home to see ‘Owl Ma’ and her friends over Christmas.’’

Go Penguins was commissioned by Liverpool City Council and is delivered by Wild In Art. More than 120 artists and a further 98 schools have joined Paul in creating the super-flock.

The public art trail, which has already injected £100,000 into the city’s creative sector, launches on Monday, November 23 across Liverpool, St Helens and Wirral and runs until Monday, Jan 10 2010.

Owl Ma Penguin and other selected penguins will be auctioned for charity in February, with Liverpool’s Lord Mayor Charities and WWF among the beneficiaries.

www.gopenguins.co.uk

We went to the Special PPP (Penguin Painting Place) on Sunday to meet the artist, Julie Dodd, who won the competition to design the Special ArtInLiverpool go-penguin.

She has been making excellent progress already and we are delighted with the results so far.

The go-penguins will be on the streets of Liverpool from 22 November 2009. Can’t wait.

More details at www.gopenguins.co.uk