Sun 1 - Thu 26 September 2024 | All Day | Various locations along Hadrian's Wall
This September, Illuminated Sheep returns as the famous flock form a brand-new, free Art Trail from the East to West of Hadrian’s Wall.
From Maryport to Arbeia, the flock will separate and will be looked after and customised by community champions, businesses and organisations.
The 2024 Illuminated Sheep Art Trail will encourage locals and visitors of all ages to find their inner shepherd, exploring the Hadrian Wall Country’s rich landscape, heritage and culture to #FindTheFlock.
Click here to see locations for the 2024 Illuminated Sheep Art Trail and get ready to #FindTheFlock!
At the end of the 2024 Art Trail, the Illuminated Sheep will shed their costumes, gather as a flock and appear as an artwork during October. On their urban adventure, the flock will be bathed in a multi-coloured light display by artist Deepa Mann-Kler with a specially-commissioned soundtrack appearing at
various locations in Newcastle.
Led by Queen’s Hall Arts, Illuminated Sheep was a visual arts trail that first lit up Northumberland to celebrate the arrival of the Lindisfarne Gospels in the North East in the autumn of 2022.
Illuminated Sheep by artist Deepa Mann-Kler was inspired by the Gospels’ themes of light and pilgrimage, and has since seen the flock of life-sized sheep lit up in bright colours at some of the region’s most iconic locations including
the Alnwick Garden,
Bamburgh Castle, Hexham Abbey,
Vindolanda and
Woodhorn Museum as well as further from home at the Bradford is Lit light festival.
Individual sheep were auctioned off at Hexham Mart, adopted and customised by local communities across the county to create the first Illuminated Sheep Art Trail in 2022 before gathering at the Festival of Flame at Hexham Abbey.
Illuminated Sheep was commissioned by Northumberland County Council and developed and managed by Queen’s Hall Arts and the Hexham Culture Network. It was part of the Cultural Programme of Hexham High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) and funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority, now the new North East Combined Authority.
Photo credit: Kit Haigh, Green Croft Arts. Gilsand Village’s Sheep Baaarbara, famous for appearing on top of a bus shelter!
T: 01434 652477
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W: www.queenshall.co.uk