Wolves in Wolves was the most significant public art exhibition and trail to have ever taken place in Wolverhampton. 30 locally made and designed Wolves sculptures were installed for more than 11 weeks around Wolverhampton City Center, it was a big success!
The Wolves in Wolves trail maps were picked up by more than 50,000 people who were looking for the Wolves to get a glimpse or take photos with them.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery hosted a mini-wolf exhibition where over 60 miniature wolves were painted by local schools, groups, and artists for the public to see. The project was for the people of Wolverhampton to search for the for the Wolves, the trail officially started in the Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
The Wolves in Wolves project is the result of an idea by a City of Wolverhampton Council employee to encourage more people to come and visit Wolverhampton and its city by improving its appeal, inspired by several other Cities/towns doing similar successful trails.
To read more on the launch visit the Express & Star.
Here is a video of the Wolves in Wolves launch & another video showing the Wolves in Wolves trail.
https://youtu.be/LQDzzDO_X4Y
At the end of the 11 weeks, the Wolves were put up for auction and the money raised by the auction was donated to The Outside Centre and the Mayor of Wolverhampton’s chosen Charities. The charities this year are:
- Sickle Cell Care
- Alzheimer’s Social Black Country
- Interfaith Wolverhampton
- LGBT Network
- Central Youth Theatre
- Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust
- Wolverhampton Street Pastor
Auction
The auction raised over £35,000 for the charities, the total raised was ranged from over 52 lots ranging from mini wolves to 15 of those found on the Wolves trail. The biggest sale was a piece named Garden by Claire Rollerson, the piece was sponsored by the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and was placed at the city centre bus station. The final bid that won was £3,200. The winner of the auction planned to put it into her own garden which is fitting given the name of the piece. It’s great to see that over £35,000 was raised all for charities!
The start of the auction councillor Elias Mattu, the Mayor of Wolverhampton said “I would like to thank everyone involved in the Wolves in Wolves project, our dedicated artists, generous sponsors and partners who have all contributed to make this project a phenomenal success. Wolves in Wolves gave the city a blast of colour and excitement and it was fantastic to see the immense Wulfrunian pride felt by everyone in the city. It has been wonderful to see so many people, young and old alike, out in the city on the lookout for wolves. From the launch in July to the very end of the trail, we have seen families, friends and even visitors from as far as Canada, China and Australia enjoy our beautiful wolves.”
Take a look at this video by the Express & Star showing some of the auction –
The Big Phone Store also won two auctions, we are proud to have won Zeus and Kiyaya and to help raise money for charities.
Read about our two Wolves; Zeus by Highfields School here and Kiyiya by Jo Burgess here.
Want to revisit the Wolves? We will be asking the public which one they want to see in our Wolverhampton store for the launch in December.
To learn more visit the official website and visit the Express and Star for their articles on the Wolves in Wolves!
