Friday, March 21, 2014

At a Shopping Centre Near You?

Follow the Herd is a National Tour of Elephant art works which is visiting many of the intu shopping centres around the country.  As the Potteries Shopping Centre is now owned by intu the tour is on display there until 6th April.  The tour of the Elephant Parade is designed to raise greater awareness of the plight of the Asian elephant.

We managed to see all the Elephants which are spread over three floors.   Above from left to right -
Spirit by Alex Jones and Mercy Delta, Flower Impression by Pimpapa Dumdej and Love Story by Kesorn Mueanpang.  These were the first three we saw as we entered the centre on the top floor.

Above is Pira-phant by Keith Siddle and Yonis Abdulle.  Behind is Mosha by Diana Francis - apparently it was the story of Mosha that started the idea of the Elephant Parade.

Above are The Butterfly Effect by Jane Veveris Callan and Elephants communicating by Ratchakrit Wichalyo.

I loved the blue and white elephant above as it reminded me of the blue and white china this area is famous for - it's called Sunday Best and was designed by Anna Masters.

I also liked this one outside the pound shop - Little Sweetie by Charlotte Brown

There is a pop up shop where you can see elephants, buy elephants and decorate elephants.

By the time we'd had a look around, picked up the trail and seen all the elephants on display we'd forgotten what we went in for - but that really didn't matter at all.


In the collage - Red Arrow by Richard Powell, Forest by Claudia Schiffer, Stop the Traffic by Christine Wilcox-Baker and Jack on Tour by Ratchakrit Wichalyo.  The next shopping centre to welcome the Elephant Parade is in Norwich.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

26 comments:

  1. Thanks for showing these. I'll see if they are coming near me, especially the pop up shop. I would love to have a go at these. Take care xx

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  2. Aren't they brilliant. I remember seeing bears in Berlin many years ago and it's really caught on!

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    1. Yes, different towns seem to have different animals like the lambannans in Liverpoool and the rhinos in Chester:)

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  3. They were in Nottingham a couple of weeks ago. You got some great photos. I loved the one with the stained glass windows.

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    1. Yes, that was good too, there were some super ones - I didn't include them all in the post:)

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  4. What fun ~ these are fabulous !

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  5. You forgot what you went in for Rosie? Elephants never forget!!! That looks like a fun and informative display. Just noticed that you read 'The Lady's Slipper' - how did you find it? x

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    1. Ha! The elephants made us forget! I enjoyed the Lady's slipper although I thought the escape from goal and the end on the boat was a little far fetched but it is fiction after all:)

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  6. I think I like the blue and white one best too - certainly an usual exhibition - something you could hardly miss I would say.

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    1. Indeed as they were life size elephants and sometimes two or three together so they did fill a lot of space:)

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  7. They're great, I love the pirate elephant! This post only showed up on my blogger dashboard list today for some reason but better late than never! I was thinking about popping into the potteries centre one evening after school as I'm in desperate need of new trousers and socks, so hopefully I'll be able to see the elephants myself!

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    1. I noticed that the post hadn't showed up straight away after publishing - must be blogger messing about! I hope you get to see the elephants:)

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  8. That's a creative exhibition and tour to make people aware of a serious issue! You got some good shots in the shopping centre near you. The pop up shop sounds like fun, too. I like 'Little Sweetie'.

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    1. Little Sweetie was very cute and colourful. All ages were enjoying the pop up shop:)

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  9. Definitely not a sight that you see every day! I think that I like the blue and white one best, and as you say a great representation of the area. A good idea to promote awareness of this issue for sure. xx

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    1. I did like the blue and white one and it was in a good position too just in from the main entrance:)

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  10. The elephants are wonderful! Such a great way of raising awareness of their plight, too.

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    1. It is a good way to promote awareness and I think they said in the shop that 20% of takings in there went to the charity too:)

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  11. These look brilliant - I wouldn't mind one in my garden!! xx

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    1. Ha! Which ones would you choose? There are some great designs:)

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  12. They look absolutely gorgeous, I wonder if they'll be visiting anywhere near us? I know someone who'd love to decorate one.

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    1. I hope the exhibition comes your way, Jay - lots of people were enjoying decorating the little ones in the shop:)

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  13. What a great exhibition! I like the blue and white one too. Thanks for sharing this.

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    1. It is a lovely exhibition! I loved the blue and white one:)

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