The beauty of this project is that it only has three fixed requirements – purchase a mini-rhino sculpture, design and decorate it to a decent standard and place it out on our public trail next Spring. Everything else is a moveable feast.
As to how you fund your participation, that’s up to you. We have discussed internal budgets, fundraising, working with a local business and community organisations enabling schools to take part.
Fundraising could be creative in itself. We’ve supported a “guess the weight of the mini-rhino sculpture” competition at a school fete. You could do an own clothes day. You could commit to the project and think about earning the money back during your participation through ancillary activities.
Working in partnership with a local business can be fun. If any parents of pupils own a local business it might be a good opportunity to raise their profile to a new audience. Maybe someone has a shop or similar business with a window that can accommodate the rhino sculpture as part of the public trail, thus driving visitors to the premises.
In terms of design and decoration, children can be fantastically creative. Our Creativity (curriculum) Pack will provide you with over 45 pages of material and inspiration. It will also flag up formal links to Key Stage 1, 2, and 3. Use it as you see fit. The sculpture enables a “wow” factor at the start. It facilitates cross-themed learning. It develops child-led learning and risk-taking. All contribute positively to school evaluations.
Final question, where are you going to put your sculpture on public trail? Let us help you to team up with a public trail “partner”. We are currently discussing an art gallery, a museum and a shop with individual schools. We are also looking at an international partnership.
As we said, it’s anything but uniform. Maybe your priorities are talented and gifted pupils, social media, creative arts, environmental awareness or international twinning. We can discuss and look to support you in various ways. First step, agree to get involved. Call us and we will come and see you.
“I have to start this off by saying that painting a full size rhino, in public, has had to be one of the most engaging , challenging and *fun* art projects I’ve been lucky enough to work on. I hope these painting hints and tips I’ve learned along the way prove useful to the next rhino painters out there, whether you are 6 or 60!
First of all, the rhino arrives ready-primed, but it’s worth putting an extra coat of emulsion on to get a smoother finish. One of the ears got a bit chipped on Newton, but some outdoor quick drying filler sorted that out and you can use fine sandpaper to smooth out any bumps.
Before you start painting, be sure of your design, in particular the background since once that’s done, its difficult to change. I chose spray (aerosol) acrylics to use as a base. These give great coverage, but be aware they are quite toxic so you will need protective goggles, face mask (make sure you use one that blocks paint fumes) and latex gloves as well as protecting your clothing. For this reason, it’s probably wise not to use spray acrylic if you are going to be painting the background with children, and use a household emulsion or acrylic paint instead.
The most forgiving way of drawing the design onto the rhino (and make changes) is to use chalk since this wipes off with a damp cloth. I used artist acrylic paint to fill in the design and you can expect to have to paint 2 or 3 coats.
Finally, the rhino will need to be varnished (to fix the paint and protect it from scuffing and the elements). I would recommend the Bristol 780 gloss varnish which is water based (and therefore easy to clean up afterwards) and a little goes a long way. You should be able to give 2 coats of varnish with about half a litre.
Of course you may be considering covering your rhino in rhinestones or turning it into a ballerina complete with tutu instead, in which case – good luck, and have fun!
Sue Cook http://www.picturedreams.co.uk painted Newton at Oxford Castle during Artweeks with children from John Blandy School in Southmoor. What she does not mention above is the constant barrage of questions from the public and life stories from regular visitors. The rhino attracts attention from everybody and is a great spectacle. A fantastic opportunity for the sponsor and for you as a commercial artists. Just be prepared, if you are being creative in public, to be scrutinised, to entertain and to be a sympathetic ear!
If there is one thing that we are learning as this project evolves, it’s the value of a smile. We are, literally, putting smiles on people’s faces wherever we go – and it’s not just us saying it. Our resident rhino keeper, Dave Beesley of B-Line, has made this same statement at a number of our personal appearances.
Our rhinos, and potentially your rhinos, will enlighten someone’s life sometime in the next 15 months. Already over a short time period we can look back and remember the fans at the Kassam Stadium, the tourists at The Museum of Natural History, the children of John Blandy School. All smiling.
Move forward to yesterday and I spoke to members of the public at Oxford Castle and guests at the 5th Birthday bash. All understood that the project concept has far more depth than a fibreglass animal sculpture. At a simple level, we had some children ride on the back of the large sculptures currently residing in one of the market squares – cue creative play and role playing. At a deeper level, I debated with a member of the public the merits of removing all rhino horn and elephant tusk and replacing them with fibreglass prostheses to deter poaching until such time as it becomes a marginalised activity – cue intellectual debate.
What shone through was an inspired legacy effect. Many remembered similar projects in other locations and smiled. The Bears in Germany, the cows in the US, the Elephants in London. What surprised me was that, without exception, they all remembered the sponsoring companies as well. This project is intended to have a tangible legacy – charitable, educational, experience and profile. What is emerging is that it is starting to generate an emotional one as well.
Whatever the scenario, our rhinos are a stimulus to a spontaneous action, thought or emotion. I sat down with a primary school teacher in the afternoon and we planned how to work with her class of 30 six and seven year olds. She kept smiling. She remembered her trip to Africa last year. She considered her input as an art graduate. If the teacher is that enthusiastic I cannot wait to meet the children.
Collaboration is a process where two or more people, or organisations, work together to realise a shared ambition. This is more than mere co-operation. It is a collective determination to achieve something that everyone agrees upon rather than a compromise. It is said that teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.(adapted from Wikipedia)
Woa! Rhino is all about collaboration.
The Wild in Art concept is built upon collaborative effort; sponsors with artists, communities with charities and schools with their pupils. At this time of great (forced) austerity, we are looking in particular at sponsorship collaboration.
We are not relying upon, nor indeed expecting, individual companies to step up and adopt a rhino – although those that have the means to do so would be welcomed with open arms. Instead, we would like to think that we could encourage some inspirational partnerships that would share the cost and multiply the brain power on offer. And, who knows, it may lead to future collaboration in the commercial world.
- Have you thought about teaming up with a supplier and strengthening those links? Chester Zoo last year teamed up with the company that supplies all of the fruit for their animals;
- Have you thought of teaming up with a neighbouring business or the whole of your street and testing your ability to work together for collective benefits? Tenants of Chester Market worked together last year;
- Have you thought about sponsoring a local primary school? All of those teachers, parents and pupils could be potential customers for your business.
The benefits of this project are sizeable and if collaboration is the answer to your concerns about participating then please make that leap. If we were to talk in the language of funding and assessment bodies for one second, we would say that:
- The outputs of this project will include inspirational public art, pupil-led learning and significant donations to worthwhile charitable causes;
- The outcomes of this project could include increased opportunities for participating artists, improved self-esteem for schoolchildren and greater commercial opportunity for sponsors;
- The legacy may include positive contributions to Ofsted assessments, heightened awareness of local business opportunities and some real long-term commitments to corporate social responsibility and worthwhile causes.
This project will inevitably include considerations about the return on your investment, whether this is time or money. However, this project can be about so much more, if you let it.
We, at About the Place Ltd, first came across the Wild in Art concept over three years ago. We have been talking to them ever since about the possibilities of bringing the event to Oxfordshire. We are delighted to have succeeded.
We are “place shapers”. That means that we get involved in projects that benefit local people, businesses or other groups, usually with a common interest in a particular place. This could be everything from a town or city, at a large scale, down to a village hall or playground locally.
Currently we are working with Henley-on-Thames Market Town, Shrivenham Parish Council, Monument Park business estate, Oxford’s Covered Market and an open prison. As you will agree, it is an eclectic mix. Public Art is another string to our bow and one about which we are very excited.
The Wild in Art concept is fantastic. It has the power to get people talking, thinking creatively and having fun together. On a serious note, it has the power to dramatically raise the profile of participating businesses and artists. It also generates some real benefits for schoolchildren in terms of self esteem and teamwork. This is a great example of “place shaping” in reality.
This project will allow us to highlight studio spaces and artists at work in the public eye through our partnership work with Oxfordshire Artweeks. We will look at how we can work with business sponsors to raise the profile of business spaces in the County – both retail and business parks. For communities there will probably emerge a sense of competition to host the public trail. Again, “place shaping” in reality.
We know that Woa! Rhino has huge potential. We know that the concept works because it has been successful in other places. We know that Oxfordshire has the creativity and talent to make this one of the best Wild in Art initiatives ever. We know that you will want to be involved…
Ever tried strolling into a leading Oxford hotel at eight in the morning with a 1.2m long, 70cm high, painted baby rhino under your arm? You should try it!
This is how Woa! Rhino made its mark on the county’s tourism leaders at one of the Shadow Board meetings for the county’s DMO, Visit Oxfordshire. Brushing aside the (slightly predictable!) fears expressed that a baby rhino might leave a different sort of mark on the meeting room’s carpet – we were able to introduce little ROSY to VO members. She is (for those worried we may be carrying around a real-life escapee from Cotswold Wildlife Park) a rhino sculpture – one of the smaller versions that schools will be given the opportunity to buy and paint as part of the Woa! Rhino trail. The bigger version – the one businesses have the opportunity to sponsor as part of their marketing efforts this year – is, at over 40kg and 1.6m by 1.5m, a little too large to carry under your arm.
We’re glad to report that little ROSY behaved very well at the VO meeting and created welcome interest among the tourism business leaders there; so we’re now in fruitful conversations about the first major project sponsors.
We’ve also started to spread the word. Woa! Rhino is on twitter and in the local media with coverage already thanks to our friends at Horizons & Futures business magazine (see P2 at http://www.bbkmedia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=8), The Oxford Journal (see http://www.oxfordjournal.co.uk/news/business/2547-rhino-tourist-project-heads-to-oxfordshire) and www.thamenews.net (see http://www.thamenews.net/readmore.asp?Content_ID=6218&Navigation_ID=38).
Little ROSY will be out and about during the first part of the year as we talk to more businesses about the high-profile marketing opportunities being part of this landmark project for Oxfordshire. We’ll also be dropping in on more business networking events with rhino under arm!
If you’d like to invite us to yours, give us a shout!
You’ll have heard of a win-win. Being one of the lead sponsors for the Woa-Rhino! project in Oxfordshire is a win-win-win says Iain Nicholson, a Director of county-wide business network OTCN. He continues…
Win-one!: it’s a really unusual sponsorship opportunity but one that makes you part of a high profile public event. The animal sculptures – rhinos in our case – become must-see attractions. The rhino you sponsor will be part of a well-promoted trail that people will take time out to visit. It’s a great way to introduce your business and your brand to a new audience. We know that the trails attract visitors of all ages, from local communities and beyond. Pester power will be at work with children enthusiastic to see the rhinos, and bring their parents along. The rhino you sponsor will be admired photographed and possibly even hugged! This is also a big media event with press, radio and TV keen to profile the trail and highlight the stories it creates along the way. So it’ll boost your media profile too, and you can add to that visits to our website on which we’ll feature the lead sponsors.
Win-two!: A key strength of the initiative is the links it forges between large and small businesses, commercial firms and visitor attractions, and local people, schools and community groups. It’s a great way for you to support the local community and strengthen your links. The production phase of the project is one good example. You’ll choose a design for the rhino colouring and work with a leading Oxfordshire artist to refine that before the rhino you have sponsored is decorated.
Win-three! At the end of the project, after the rhinos have been out for the trail phase, they’re collected together and auctioned off. The rhino you sponsor will be part of a major auction, raising funds for a local children’s charity and an international wildlife charity. So being part of Woa-Rhino! is also a way for you to give something back.
We’re keen to start recruiting our lead business sponsors now…and as with anything, there’s a big profile benefit in being among the first to sign. Please get in touch with Oliver (07771 536826 or info@woa-rhino.org.uk ) and join Woa-Rhino! Today.
We set ourselves a tough challenge. Could we brand this project in a way that reflects its creative edge? Moreover, could we brand this project in a way that allows an opportunity for everyone involved to put their own creative slant on our work?
Our friends at Loud, based in Harwell, Oxfordshire, suggested that we base our brand on the concept of Tangrams. Tried and tested geometric shapes that are said to have originated in ancient China. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (only in outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. “Simples”, as a well known meerkat might say.
We discussed the fact that the concept works on so many levels, from PR and viral marketing through to strong links into the curriculum for local schools. We were sold. Mass public art has to be inclusive, has to be fun and has to inspire a whole range of ages. There should be something for everyone, whether you are still at school or are an academic at the University.
We think that our friends at Loud have made a good job of our rhino. If you think that you can do better we would love to hear from you. We currently do not have an oxpecker bird (the little bird that sits on the back of a rhino in the wild). Watch out for our tangram “oxpecker” challenge!
There is a lot more to come from our seven geometric friends. Be the first to hear about our plans, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and get involved. Use our on-line badge, write a blog, submit a photograph.
