Making Time To Stand And Stare

Six Word Photo Story: Freestyle

Puffins Galore! Selfies at the ready.

Ask any Brit for their favourite seabird, and it won’t be the golden-headed Gannet which folds back its wings to dive into the sea after prey, neither will it be the majestic Sea Eagle with its eight-foot wingspan. It will be the comical parrot-beaked, stubby-winged Puffin which stands only seven inches high on its orange webbed feet, yet manages to burrow deep into sandy cliff-tops to lay its single egg and raise its fluffy Puffling.

In summer, Puffins flock to the local coastline to breed, and people flock to see them. This makes the seabird an ideal sculpture subject to carry one of the triple themes of Endangered Coastal Wildlife, Climate Change, and People & Stories of the East Yorkshire Coast.

42 sculptures were commissioned, and artists submitted over 150 designs to fulfill the Puffins Galore! brief. Our town hosts six sculptures standing along the length of the Promenade looking out to sea. Each carries a different story in its elaborate and eye-catching decoration. It’s not hard to guess the story behind “Percy Puffin Litter Picker.” View the full gallery HERE, with info about the artists.

It’s not the first time painted sculptures have been used this way in the region.

In 2010 ‘The Larkin Toads’ caused a sensation in our nearby city of Kingston upon Hull. The late Philip Larkin was a renowned, if dour, poet who chose the city as his home. The idea for the sculpture came from his Toads poem. I recall seeing one of the sculptures, decorated with scenes of the local rugby teams, standing guard by the entrance to a supermarket. Children sat on its back and patted its head.

In 2016 the late Amy Johnson CBE, who was born in the city, was commemorated with ‘A Moth For Amy’ in recognition of the Gypsy Moth bi-plane she flew solo to Darwin, Australia, in 1930, breaking all sorts of records in the process. Some of the buildings in Hull still carry the sculpture on their external walls.

And now we have ‘Puffins Galore!’ — at least until October when, as with the previous sculptures, they will be auctioned to raise funds for local charities. An art installation that works at every turn.

Thanks to Mary Chang Story Writer for the publication. Read more stories from Linda Acaster.