| From |
Guy Wooles |
| Date |
Wednesday, January 10, 2001 |
| To |
Aardman Animation |
| Subject |
FAO Nick Park |
| |
|
| |
|
Dear Nick Park,
My name is Guy Wooles and I have just recently graduated from
the University of the West of England, Bristol, in Fine Art
in Context (BA Hons). Since October 1999 I have been working
with penguins, not the feathered kind but the paper kind, exploring
conservation and wildlife protection issues. My final year project
(and my current project) involves sending sculpted paper penguins
around the world to document different lifestyles and cultures.
The first penguin to go travelling was Dennis. Dennis is currently
assisting Dave Houston, a ranger for the Department of Conservation
in New Zealand, and has been there since October '99 and shows
no sign of wanting to come home (I don't blame him it's chucking
it down outside).
Since Dennis there have been numerous penguin adventures including
Hong Kong, New York, Canada and Bristol Zoo. All these 'residencies'
have been compiled and presented on a website that I created
specifically for this work.
My intentions are to raise awareness to the issues that can
be found within the artwork such as conservation, waste and
wildlife protection. I want to approach them using humour, not
with a wagging finger, as I believe that humour is far more
effective especially with children.
I wish to establish a network of 'paper penguin' residencies
(not necessarily permanent) around the world in locations of
conservation, ecological and educational importance, that will
send back documentation (in the form of e-mail) and photographs.
The information of each penguin's experiences of the culture
and lifestyle of their location would then be published on the
website.
I have a penguin at the Washington University, Seattle, preparing
for an expedition to the North Pole in March (first penguin
to the North Pole, I believe) and am in the process of securing
a trip to the South Pole as well. These, I hope, will make extremely
interesting residencies to be documented on the website.
My penguins are very well behaved (well, usually), rarely moult
and are completely house-trained.
Information on my work so far can be found on the website www.khern.freeserve.co.uk.
My intention is to create a site that is fun and educational
as well as being environmentally informative. The penguins give
an insight into different cultures and lifestyles around the
world and take mail art to another dimension.
It will hopefully raise awareness of the fragility of life and
the need to educate people to protect it. The site at the moment
is not focussed enough to my liking but will become more committed
to the issues that it was designed for as the project matures.
Throughout the coming months I hope to send more penguins off
to relevant hosts thus developing the site into a far more educational
and environmentally friendly body of work. The most recent hosts
are teachers in Hawaii and Alaska.
The hosts are encouraged to use the site to bring attention
to the work or issues that they are involved in - from a penguin's
perspective, obviously.
I am currently seeking funding and/or sponsorship so that I
can continue with this work, intending to make the project even
more global by visiting a number of environmental groups around
the world. I will then document the work that is being done
there and create paper penguins out of the local newspapers
to be sent back to myself in Britain. This will end up in an
international exhibition of Paper Penguins each of which will
have it's own documentation of it's homeland's efforts in conservation.
I am writing to you because I am looking for support in the
project, whether it be financial or advice - both would be great.
I understand that this might be construed as being 'cheeky'
but it is very difficult for a single artist to secure funding
or sponsorship from companies or councils. Any advice on how
to proceed with the work would be greatly appreciated.
As far as I know this art work is unique (nobody else is as
disturbed) and has great potential.
If you have any questions regarding the work please do not
hesitate to contact me.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you for your time.
Guy Wooles
BA (Hons)
| From |
Viki Margerum |
| Date |
Thursday, January 11, 2001 10:21 AM |
| To |
Guy Wooles |
| Subject |
Fwd(3): FAO Nick Park |
| |
|
| |
|
Dear Guy
Thanks for your message which has been passed on to me.
I haven't had a chance to talk to David about this, but wanted
to reply
immediately asking you to give me a call. The reason being,
that David and
Nick Park are off to the South Pole tomorrow! Penguin watching,
would you
believe!
Give me a call on 0117 9****** so that we can talk further.
Best wishes,
Viki
Viki Margerum
PA to David Sproxton
Managing Director, Aardman Animations
| From |
Guy Wooles |
| Date |
Thursday, January 11, 2001 5:07 PM |
| To |
Viki Margerum |
| Subject |
Penguins |
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|
| |
|
Hi Viki,
I take it the penguin thing didn't come off. Thank you, anyway,
for taking an interest. Maybe next time.
All the best
Guy
| From |
Viki Margerum |
| Date |
Thursday, January 11, 2001 6:00 PM |
| To |
Guy Wooles |
| Subject |
Re: Penguins |
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|
| |
|
actually, I haven't been able to get a response
yet. Nick Park thought it
was a nice idea (to take a penguin) but I need to find out from
David. If
it is affirmative (can't promise as it's quite short notice),
can you get
one to us here tomorrow morning, at Gas Ferry Road?
Viki
Viki Margerum
PA to David Sproxton
| From |
Guy Wooles |
| Date |
Thursday, January 11, 2001 8:45 PM |
| To |
Viki Margerum |
| Subject |
Re: Penguins |
| |
|
| |
|
Viki,
Thanks for replying. Yes, I will be able to get a penguin to
you if it gets
the go-ahead. Just give me a call and I'll grab a cab or something.
I'll
bring a selection from my 'family' for them to select the most
suitable.
Speak to you soon,
Cheers
Guy
