Moo-ving on up, moo-ving on out… nothing is stopping the #CowsAboutCambridge from taking over the city this Summer and we are udderly excited! Cows About Cambridge is a unique arts event and those taking part include local artists, businesses, schools and community groups from across the region. The sculpture trail launches on Monday 28th June and the cows will be on display until Saturday 4th September 2021.
This innovative project will be one of the largest mass-participation art events to be held in Cambridge. It has been described as a world-class art trail and is available for everyone to enjoy for free. The 44 Cow Sculptures and 46 Mini Moos have been lovingly hand-decorated and will be installed in COVID-friendly locations in the open air or within public spaces indoors.
Covering 10 miles, the entire trail can be walked during a fun day out but you can also choose to visit as many or as few of the installations as you wish with several to be found near hospitality venues and ideal picnic spots. Printed trail maps showing all the locations can be collected in shopping centres or from the city’s Cambridge BID Ambassadors. You can also download it from the website here.
There will be an app available to help geo-locate the cows, unlock rewards and track your trail progress – get interactive by voting for your favourite cow and uploading your selfies to the online gallery!
The 10-week long sculpture trail is delivered by creative producers Wild In Art in partnership with local children’s charity Break and is supported by inaugural sponsor and principal partner Cambridge Business Improvement District (BID).
Charlie Langhorne, Managing Director/Co-founder of Wild In Art, said: “…The contribution from communities, schools, artists and sponsors is at the very core of the success of Cows About Cambridge, and for that we are immensely grateful…” and “…not only will these beautiful bovines bring a smile to your face, but they also have a serious role to play in encouraging conversations about the climate and how we look after our world.”
After the trail ends, all the cows will be herded together for a final farewell weekend, then the large cow sculptures will be auctioned off to raise vital funds for Break while the mini moos will find forever homes with the schools and community groups that created them. Rachel Cowdry, CEO of Break charity said: “The auction in September will raise vital funds for our services across Cambridgeshire, giving young people in care, on the edge of care or leaving care stability, a home and the life-long support they need to enjoy a bright and successful future.”
Local Artist and #WeAreCambsCreatives member Dario Fisher created ‘May-Belle’ who, as seen above, was spotted back when the project launched bravely punting on the River Cam. Dario’s design ‘portrays two immediately recognisable landmarks as simple and striking sunset scenes’. You will be able to find ‘May-Belle’ grazing on Christ’s Pieces, ‘the city’s iconic green spaces gives Cambridge a unique, peaceful sense of being out in the country’.
Another Cambridge favourite, the artist duo known as Dinky Doors are also participating with ‘MooMoo-o-Tron III’. Dinky Doors are street artists who remain anonymous and who are on a mission to save the world from ‘relentlessly terrible news and wanton drudgery’.
They say on their blog that that it “…was a huge uddertaking for us, when we’re used to working at a slightly more dinky scale, but we’re pretty happy with the result…” – you can read their full blog here and watch the video below for the story behind this a-moosing creation!
Two of our favourite cows that we are hoping to see are ‘ButterCup’ and ‘Sir Isaac Mooton’. ‘ButterCup’ by sculptor Sally Adams will be on Midsummer Common. The artist was inspired by classic cow names and is known for manipulating the initial form – which can be seen here with the addition of the petal-face.
‘Sir Isaac Mooton’ by Donna Newman celebrates the achievements of Sir Isaac Newton. Donna’s design is playful and features symbols of the famous figure’s discoveries – can you spot the ‘reflecting telescope, Newton’s cannon, light refraction and the much-debated cat flap’ on your visit?
It has recently been reported that the mini moos escaped their lockdown to go shopping in Cambridge and have been spotted in shops, museums, libraries, galleries and leisure venues across the city centre this last week. The smaller cow sculptures have been individually decorated by schools, colleges and community groups involved in the Cows About Cambridge Learning Programme.
Each sculpture has a unique and colourful story to tell, with themes ranging from kindness and comedy to favourite books and school subjects. The learning programme has provided resources and lesson plans to encourage classroom creativity as well as cross-curricular conversations about a range of relevant topics, from climate change to construction. Read more about the escaping mini moos, print the colouring-in sheets and download the trail app here:
Don’t forget that you can also search for the trail on social media using #CowsAboutCambridge – we would love to see your discoveries, be sure to tag @TheTrove_Cambridge in your posts on Instagram so that we can share and use the community tag #CambsCreativeTreasures! The trail app can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play from Monday 28th June at a cost of £1.99 with 25% of the net profit from each purchase being donated to the Break charity.
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