Launched on 1 May, to mark the tenth anniversary of Staffordshire Day, the trail features ten large-scale sculptures of Staffy, the county’s loveable new canine mascot.
Each statue captures what Staffordshire means to local people, and six students have worked with local artist and – University of Staffordshire graduate – Becki Kremer to bring their vision of Staffordshire to life.
Students from across Ceramics, Cartoon and Comic Arts, Illustration, Graphic Design and Surface Pattern courses took part in a workshop with Becki to develop creative concepts for the design.
“I think it's been an amazing opportunity to celebrate what stands out about Staffordshire and what we're specifically proud of as young people,” said MA Ceramics student Grace Jones.
“Seeing parts of the design that I've contributed to and knowing we've worked together to create something beautiful gives me a really big sense of pride.”
The 22-year-old from Blurton added: “There are a lot of misconceptions about the area but doing this shows that there is so much to offer. There's nature, there's music venues, there's so many places you can get involved with the community. I think this project will really show people from outside of the county what Staffordshire is all about.”
BA (Hons) Surface Pattern Design and Textiles student Amy Watkins said: “It was great working with Becki to brainstorm ideas about the past, present and the future of Staffordshire and what we thought was important to feature. We wanted to celebrate our culture, like the ceramics within Stoke-on-Trent, and feature the canals and the restoration of buildings within Stoke-on-Trent at the moment. We also wanted to represent the community and make it inclusive so, for example, you’ll see a same sex couple in the design.”
The 35-year-old from Norton, continued: “I've lived in Staffordshire all my life and it's something that I think that we should celebrate. I've got a son, so it will be really exciting to bring him to the Staffy Trail and be like, ‘look mummy helped to design this’!”
Stoke-on-Trent based artist Becki Kremer works with a range of mediums – from mural painting to hand-sewn textile projects – and completed the final decoration incorporating the students’ ideas.
She said: "Working with the students of University of Staffordshire on this Staffy was such an absolute joy. They were all so wonderful and talented, and getting to hear all of their experiences, sense of pride in the county, and hopes for the future of Staffordshire was so inspiring. It really made putting the design together and painting really fun, and I hope that they love Artie as much as I do!"
Delivered by the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) in partnership with Making Trails, the Staffy Trail is designed to encourage people to explore more of the county, spend more time in town centres and discover everything Staffordshire has to offer.
Spanning Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford and Tamworth, the Staffy Trail is expected to attract around 30,000 visitors and University of Staffordshire’s statue features on the trail at Stoke Minster.
Ade Tooth, Course Director for Visual Arts, added: “This has been a great collaborative project, bringing students from a range of creative courses together to celebrate Staffordshire. They had a lot of fun working with Becki, and the finished Staffy looks brilliant – we hope that lots of people will come out to visit it on the Staffy Trail!”