I Love West Leeds Arts Festival 2010 | The Hippo Trail

Meet Denny!

Denny is a hippo created by Chris Gauntley for the 2010 July festival participation project.

Here at Festival HQ, we produced 500 miniature hippos for decoration by school children and local residents for the Armley Hippo Trail.

For the last three weeks of school term the window displays of shops on Armley Town Street were taken over by hippo scenes.

To compliment the many Dennys, we commissioned six artists to produce hippo artworks to be featured in two special hippo shops at the heart of Armley Town St- New work was created by Fabric Lenny, Naomi Williams, Lou Sumray, Michelle Duxbury, Chris Gauntley and Steven James.

The Hippo Trail was installed along Armley Town Street from Skeltons Butchers down to Steve Morley Travel with hippos in shop windows, a public art model for a hippoduct in the library and two dedicated hippo shops on Town Street itself.

Hippo artwork by Lou Sumray and Naomi Williams being installed. (photo Paul Slater)

Fantastic Yodelling Hippo by Fabric Lenny. (photo Paul Slater)

The Hippoduct by Chris Gauntley - now thats a piece of public art to rival the Angel of the North...

Click here to see local press coverage of the project!