Oor Wullie's Bucket Trail in Perth!

Every Sunday for most of my childhood my Grandad would fold back the Sunday Post into a size manageable for wee hands and pass me the Oor Wullie section. Once I’d worked my way through the happy tale of the boy on the bucket, I’d turn over to The Broons and then do all the puzzles. It was a ritual I never once tired of and extended to buying which ever of the two annuals was out that Christmas.

As I grew up, the role switched and I’d buy him the annual; safe to say a book changed hands every Christmas for the best part of 30 years.  So when this great story landed on my desk last week, I filled to the brim with childlike nostalgia and living in Perthshire, I’m sure I’m not alone. 

This summer Tayside will become invaded with dozens of giant Oor Wullie sculptures to wreak havoc and mischief as Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail! This is the biggest mass participation public art event ever seen in the region and will spread across Perthshire and Dundee in a bid to raise funds for The ARCHIE Foundation.

The public art display is being organised by The ARCHIE Foundation, DC Thomson and Wild In Art and they’re hoping to see over 50 individually designed Oor Wullie sculptures beautifully decorated by local and national artists.  

At the end of the 10 weeks exhibition, where Wullie will surely have posed for a gazillion selfies and made thousands of new pals, each Oor Wullie sculpture will be sold at a special auction with all proceeds going to the ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Appeal to raise funds to create a brand new twin theatre suite for the Tayside Children’s Hospital at Ninewells.  It just keeps getting better!

Check out the video below from WhimSicAL LusH Illustration. Timelapse Pt11 shows Suzanne giving Oor Wullie a Jellyfish Sleeve.

There are FOUR great ways to get involved.

1. Businesses.  If you’re a business who’d like to be part of this fab project then there are loads of ways to get involved in Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail. The organisers are keen to emphasise that no business is too big or too small to be part of the adventure.   To discuss sponsorship, contact Neil Cooney on 07960162223 or email him here.
   
   
2. Schools. As well as giant Oor Wullie sculptures being available to sponsor, there are exciting educational opportunities for schools to receive ‘mini’ Oor Wullie’s for pupils to design, paint and then display too.
   
   
3. Artists.  The organisers are doing a call out to artists (more below!) to encourage as many unique designs as possible for the dozens of Oor Wullie Sculptures.
   
   
4. You. Make sure you visit, get a selfie, tag it and spread the word!

As the Bucket Trail gathers momentum, over 50 sculptures are waiting patiently to be individually designed by both local and national artists, as well as the odd celebrity, and there are still sculptures to be designed. With the deadline for submissions set for February 19th, organisers The ARCHIE Foundation, along with partners Wild in Art and DC Thomson, are appealing for some final artistic Oor Wullie designs to consider.

Each and every submission is considered and no creative idea is too big or too small, from traditional to new media, fine art to illustration and graffiti to mosaic. Organisers would like to encourage professional artists, enthusiastic amateurs, graphic designers, architects and photographers to submit ideas and seize this unique opportunity to showcase their work on a grand scale for a great cause.

Go on... DO IT, DO IT, DO IT! You can download an artist pack from the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail website.

I’m not really an artist, so I won't be offering up a design but I am dusting off my dungarees for the selfie of the summer – see you on bucket somewhere!

For further information about the work of The ARCHIE Foundation, visit www.archiefoundationhome.org.uk