by Ray Duffill
Amazing Amy Rat has been officially revealed to the people of Hedon.
The artists – a team of students from Holderness Academy – were there to enjoy the occasion. The bid to create Hedon’s rat as part of the Mischief of Rats trail was very much a community effort led by the academy – the artist was Emily Dodgson, an ex-student, helped by the school’s art technician, Laura McIntyre, who is also a former student at the school.
Emily, Laura and eight other students were responsible for designing and decorating Amy. Students Daisy, Emily, Rosie, Anna, Tahlia, Jess B, Annie and Jessica K all took artistic responsibility for painting a particular part of the sculpture, incorporating their local knowledge of Hedon history.
Amazing Amy includes scenes from Hedon around its base. It is a tribute to, and draws its name from, the famous aviator Amy Johnson, who landed at Hedon Aerodrome. Following a full morning of planning and designing at Holderness Academy, Amy took a further four days to complete.
Amy was revealed in place at Hedon’s Market Hill on a gloriously sunny day and will now stand there until August. Maintaining Amy to look her best will be an ongoing task, but Amy will benefit from hundreds of pairs of eyes checking her out every day as students from the academy pass on their way to and from school.
Early local opinion on Amy has been positive, with residents pleased to see her in Hedon after the town missed out on previous such trails (toads, moths, and puffins).
One Paull resident, Sue Robertson, who had just seen Humber Rat in her village, was delighted to see Amy too. She liked the idea of the Mischief of Rats, remembering Mick Ronson and the Spiders from Mars, and she had met both Mick, his brother, and David Bowie in Hull during their Ziggy Stardust years.
Amazing Amy is not the only link that the Hedon has to that iconic album. The cover art for the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars shows Ziggy arriving on Earth outside of 23 Heddon Street.
The Ziggy Stardust character and concept was created by David Bowie, and the album was released on June 6, 1972. This whole episode of Bowie’s career is immersed in myth and legend, including why Heddon Street was chosen as the location for the album cover. One suggestion is that the decision might have been influenced by Mick Ronson.
As part of a trail of 44 other rats, the Amazing Amy is certainly going to bring visitors into the town and be a spur to conversation over many weeks and months.