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Art Trail Reunion is a Big Success!

14 March 2022

From familiar snouts and trunks, as well as one or two new feathered friends, there was plenty to enjoy for fans of St Elizabeth Hospice’s Wild in Art sculpture trails over the weekend of 12th and 13th March.

As part of the Welcome Back Ipswich weekend, St Elizabeth Hospice and Ipswich Borough Council hosted the St Elizabeth Hospice Art Trail Reunion event in the Town Hall and Corn Exchange.

The free-to-attend event gave hundreds of trail enthusiasts, of all ages, the opportunity to see familiar faces from past hospice art trails in Ipswich, as over 35 sculptures from Pigs Gone Wild 2016 and Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk 2019 were displayed across the whole weekend, after being kindly loaned by local businesses, organisations and individuals who purchased them during previous hospice art trail auctions.

The special reunion weekend also generated further excitement ahead of the Big Hoot Ipswich 2022, with an array of ‘Hoot’ related activity held including street performances, children’s activities and special visits from artists working on this year’s trail and the reveal of a new Hoot, ‘Nocturne’, designed by Ipswich artist, Loïs Cordelia.

Celia Joseph, community relationships fundraising manager at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “What a fantastic weekend. Thank you so much to all who came and supported the reunion weekend as well as a special thank you to Ipswich Borough Council and all the sculpture owners who loaned us their sculptures for everyone to enjoy.

“It was brilliant to see the excitement and enthusiasm growing for the soon-to-arrive Big Hoot Ipswich 2022 art trail. We were also thrilled to reveal Loïs Cordelia’s stunning ‘Nocturne’ owl as our latest Hoot for this year’s trail, which is available to win in the hospice’s Lucky Ticket raffle being held throughout the summer, so do purchase your tickets now!”

The Big Hoot Ipswich 2022 is the third art trail brought to Ipswich by St Elizabeth Hospice in partnership with creative producers Wild in Art, following the success of Pigs Gone Wild 2016 and Elmer’s Big Parade Suffolk 2019.

As part of the Big Hoot 2022, 50 ornately decorated owl sculptures, featuring designs celebrating all things Suffolk, will be scattered throughout Ipswich, between 19th June and 3rd September, as part of the biggest free art event in Suffolk which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the town.

Organised in partnership with St Elizabeth Hospice and Ipswich Borough Council, the St Elizabeth Hospice Art Trail was funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme.

To take part in the Lucky Ticket raffle to be in with a chance to win the ‘Nocturne’ Hoot, visit www.luckyticket.org.uk/charity/st-elizabeth-hospice-suffolk/big-hoot-2022

For more information about the Big Hoot Ipswich 2022 go to thebighoot.co.uk.