More than 220 visitors celebrated Earth Day in Honiton's Thelma Hulbert Gallery with a hippo procession, art activities and live music.

Pupils from Honiton Primary led the procession of the hippo sculpture from the school, via Allhallows Museum, to the gallery.  Honiton’s Brass Band played to the crowd along with singer songwriter Chris Ostler. Local families enjoyed craft activities with East Devon’s countryside ranger, Penny Evans and created their own mini hippos in the gallery.

The sculpture was created during six days of workshops with artist Alistair Lambert at the school, Honiton Museum and in the beautiful nature of the Blackdown Hills. The event was part of a national campaign led by the Art Fund.

The Wild Escape involved 532 museums up and down the country. Inspired by David Attenborough’s Wild Isles TV series, The Wild Escape invited primary school children to find a favourite animal in their local museum and create an artwork. 

The pictures and stories children created have been brought together in a collective work of art that imagines a better future for the wildlife on our doorstep, launched online and in museums on Earth Day 2023.

The project was delivered by Museum Development England in partnership with Art Fund. The Wild Escape was made possible by lead support from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants, with additional support from Art Fund.

Ruth Gooding, THG Curator and Manager said: “Earth Day is celebrated by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy changes. With the help of South West Museum Development and Art Fund, we were delighted to be part of The Wild Escape, the largest ever collaboration between the UK’s museums. Supported by Arts Council England, the project aims to inspire hundreds of thousands of children to visit museums and respond creatively to the threat to the UK’s natural environment by looking for animals featured in museum collections and creating their own wildlife artworks. 

"Here in Honiton, THG were delighted to partner with Honiton Primary and Allhallows Museum and privileged to work with the wonderful artist, Alistair Lambert, who together with my colleague Anna Aroussi and a fabulous group of children have created this incredible project and partnership.”