26 June: Gala Charity Auction 23 September 2008 

After ten weeks of standing to attention across our city’s streets, much of the Go Elephants! herd will be in need of new homes. What better way to achieve this than to send them off at a Gala Charity Auction? Each elephant will make his or her way to savannahs new, while 75% of the net proceeds of the auction will go straight to our two nominated charities: The Born Free Foundation and CLIC Sargent.

Taking place in The Forum, this special event will see many of the beautiful and uniquely adorned sculptures amassed in one herd, to create a truly spectacular site.

Guests will be invited to wander through the herd, browsing the beasts from tusk to tail and deciding which work of art will adorn their office, home or garden. Champagne and canapés will be served with bidders seated comfortably while TW Gaze Auctioneers lead the proceedings.

The elephants will be fully restored after their ten weeks on the streets so that they are in pristine condition to be sold. The plinths they stand on and their plaques will be removed before auction.

More information (including how to book tickets) will be available shortly. Please email andrea.mccormick@theforumnorwich.co.uk to register your interest.
 

23 June: Community Project News...

Go elephants! is all about bringing together and celebrating the many different aspects of Norwich and Norfolk life. Nowhere is this is better demonstrated than with our ten elephants decorated by community groups from across the county.

Participants were recruited from some of the more deprived areas in Norwich, Great Yarmouth and South Norfolk, giving these enthusiastic young people a chance to flex their creative muscles and get involved.

 “[Go Elephants!]  has given the young people who access MAP the opportunity to get focused and create some art to be truly proud of. Moreover, it will … enable … anyone who visits to see just how positive, creative and talented these young people are.” Julie Webber, Children’s Rights Worker, Mancroft Advice Project

Inspired by a range of subjects from memories to maps, chocolate to shoes, and decorated using paints, patchwork, and even electrical tape, the resulting elephants are an expression of the talent and enthusiasm of all those who took part.

Go Elephants! Community Partner: NR5 Project

Additional Community Projects: SeaChange Arts and South Norfolk Youth Action

Organisations without whose support these projects would not have taken place:

19 June: Elephants ready to launch!

After nearly eighteen months of planning, Go Elephants! finally hits the streets this Monday (23 June). The team are preparing for the mammoth logistical operation of moving fifty-three elephants from their temporary home at the old Bally Shoe Factory out on to the streets.

Prior to that, sponsors, artists and friends of the project will get the chance to meet the elephants at an exclusive preview and launch night this Friday at the factory. Guests will be able to enjoy African drummers, entertainment, wine, beer and a hog roast for sustenance.

Go Elephants! is the result of  productive and creative relationships between many different people and organisations. The project has proven a unique collaboration of business, cultural and community sectors from across Norwich and Norfolk. 

The roll call of sponsors is exciting. More than forty sponsors and partners have come to the project from the worlds of media, retail, construction, culture, finance, leisure, education and beyond. 

More than fifty artists – professional and amateur have been involved. In addition, over sixty young people from community groups across the county have also taken part. We’ve had nearly twenty schools contribute towards a herd of smaller baby elephants, to be exhibited in The Mall, and an exciting and exotic contribution by children from Ol Moti School in Kenya.

The project has been beautifully documented in the Go Elephants! Souvenir Guide which features images of all fifty-three elephants plus stories, competitions and the trail map. The guide will be available at £2.99 from Monday at The Forum, The Mall ‘Ask me Point,’ Jarrold, Borders, John Lewis, the Odeon at Riverside and both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Cathedrals.

A massive ‘thank you’ is due to all those who’ve given their time, effort and imagination to the project… Go Elephants!

19 June: Planes, Trains… and Elephants!

Back in April, Born Free put one of our elephants on an aeroplane with the foundation’s  founder, Virginia McKenna OBE and packed them off to Kenya. On arrival, they travelled overland in a Landover to the fringes of Amboselli National Park where it was decorated by children of Ol Moti School using traditional Maasai materials.

The resulting elephant, ‘Meiluami’ returns to Norfolk this week and will be met at London’s Liverpool Street Station by Go Elephants! organisers before making the journey by rail to Norwich courtesy of National Express East Anglia. Upon arrival in Norwich, Meiluami will be received by Dean of Norwich Cathedral, the Very Reverend Graham Smith.

Our thanks to Meiluami’s sponsors, Hunters Landrover, Norwich and Kenya Airways for making this fantastic project possible.
 

19 June: Elephant Gunn!

We’re delighted to announce one of our elephants has been designed and decorated by one of the region’s rising artistic talents, Susan Gunn. Since graduating from Norwich School of Art and Design with a First Class BA Hons degree, Susan’s art has been exhibited in Europe and the UK, some of which has been acquired by the Sovereign Art Foundation. Her abstract paintings have been exhibited alongside works by artists such as Damien Hirst and she now sits on the East of England Regional Arts Council. Susan says of the project: "Go Elephants! brings together community and school groups, charities, professional and amateur artists, and businesses; promoting Art and Culture within the city and making this accessible to the public.

"Having seen the idea come together in other European Cities, I am sure the spectacle will be a hit with the public and enhance the city's rich cultural reputation. The project encourages inclusivity, excellence and business and public involvement. I’ve been impressed with the elephants I’ve seen so far and believe they mirror the diversity of the project. Be prepared to be surprised, challenged, and captivated!"

Susan took time out from preparing for a major public exhibition at Norwich Castle Museum to paint her elephant, Jemima. The design is a fun aside to Susan’s painting practice and reflects her pre-occupation with cracked earth. 

19 June: Start tracking down your favourite elephant…

The fifty-three elephants located around Norwich form a trail across our fine city. You don’t have to see them all in one day… but ‘it’s a must’ to see them all! 

To help you track them down, the Go Elephants! Trail Map is an essential guide to where all the elephants are located and is now available from outlets throughout the county including Tourist Information Centres, The Forum and other venues. Trail Maps can also be downloaded by clicking here.

19 June: Parallelephant takes shape!

As the Go Elephants! team rounded up the last few stragglers this week, we took delivery of one of the most radical and distinctive members of the herd. The ‘Parallelephant’ is the Sainsbury Centre’s contribution to Go Elephants!   

The Parallelephant is unlike any other elephant in the project as it does not use the fibreglass elephant template. Designed by Andrew Johnson from East Publishing and inspired by works in the ‘Constructed’ exhibition, the most extensive exhibition of the UEA Collection of Abstract and Constructivist Art, the elephant is a constructivist re-interpretation of the standard Go Elephants! sculpture. The exhibition which runs at the Sainsbury Centre from 1 July to 14 December features work from the likes of Gerrit Rietveld, Charles Eames and Marcel Breuer. Parellelephant was built by talented local modelmaker Nigel Purdy. 

Kate Carreno, Deputy Director at the Sainsbury Centre, says “We are delighted to be participating in Go Elephants! which is a fun way to engage people with art and will also raise lots of money for charity… We hope that our elephant will encourage people to visit the Constructed exhibition and see the Rietveld chair that inspired the Parallelephant.”

During Go Elephants! there will be other elephant celebrations at the Sainsbury Centre. On Sunday 3 August the Family Fun Day, Carnival of the Animals (sponsored by the Evening News) has been themed to link to the elephant art project and to large animals in the Centre’s Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection. There will be creative activities, live performances, the chance to enjoy a BBQ or bring a picnic and time to explore the Sainsbury Centre inside and out – and it’s all free! Other elephant fun at the Centre will include a special gallery trail which will be launched to coincide with Go Elephants! and an art competition for children. Check the Sainsbury Centre’s website for up-to-date news – www.scva.ac.uk.

The Parallelephant is sponsored by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and East Publishing.  

24 April: John Lewis staff get creative...

As one of the sponsors of Go Elephants! John Lewis is taking a different approach to the design of their elephant. Working with Arts & Business they are making the most of the creative talent that exists within their Norwich store by getting John Lewis staff directly involved in their project.

Presented with an elephant sculpture and a stack of blank paper elephant templates, staff were tasked with creating a design to represent ‘Norwich commerce’. These were entered into an in-house competition and two entries were chosen. Professional artist Tim Edwards is now working with staff through a series of workshops, to bring the final design to life.

 Laura Allen, Promotions Manager at John Lewis: “This has been a great project to get our staff involved in. Whilst they are learning all about art and design, it has also been a great chance to have lots of fun and get to know colleagues in an informal setting.”

Arts & Business’ purpose is to enable business and its people to be more successful by engaging with the arts and to increase resources for the arts from business and its people. John Lewis, Norwich and The Forum Trust have received an investment from A&B to develop their creative partnership. The A&B Investment Programme is funded by Arts Council England, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Scottish Executive.

24 April: Artist and Sponsor update

The last month has been a busy time, selecting artists, securing new sponsors and running various projects.

There’s been a flurry of new sponsors joining the project since our last update. We’re delighted to welcome on board as ‘Official Partners’ major bus operator, First Eastern Counties and purveyors of wholesome, natural foods, Pret A Manger and, we're pleased to announce, Norwich City Council.

We’re also glad to welcome into the fold locally based construction company May Gurney, Norwich Arts Centre, Snelling Business Systems, Folio Hotels and R.G. Carters. The Harleston and Waveney Art Trail, supported by South Norfolk Council will be providing a wonderfully surreal elephant offering and we’re delighted that we’ll also have representation from Great Yarmouth in the form of SeaChange Arts.

Property developers, Targetfollow also join the project, kindly providing our ‘Ele-centre’ at Harford Place (the old Bally Shoe Factory), where some of our artists are already hard at work painting pachyderms!

By the time we reached the artist submission deadline, we had received more than 350 designs from amateur and professional artists, schools and community groups.

Once we’d opened lots of envelopes, catalogued and mounted all the entries, Go Elephants! sponsors attended a selection evening to choose designs for their elephants, resulting in around twenty five commissions being made.