Ideas behind flights of fancy

Meet the innovative designers who created Maggie’s Penguin Parade

It’s simply p-p-p perfect! From punky penguin to PJ the poetry penguin, there’s a flamboyant five-foot avian attraction to appeal to everyone on the Maggie’s Penguin Parade.

With the trail officially launching today, The Courier was invited on a mini tour taking in five of the 80 sculptures and meeting some of the artists involved.

Sticky Feet in Slessor Gardens, sponsored by Arbroath-based marmalade and jam producer Mackays, was decorated in mosaics by artist Debbie Ryan.

The Emperor’s Voyage of Discovery at Verdant Works, designed by chain saw wielding Arbroath sculptor Tom Harris Ward, is one of two on the trail not made of fibreglass. While Absent Waves in Broughty Ferry is made out of wire, this bad boy is hand-carved from wood. The “heart” of the penguin contains a small part of RRS Discovery.

“I started off with a big Douglas Fir, milled it into four pieces and then gluelaminated these together,” said Tom. “The Antactica-shaped inlay in the penguin’s chest is a piece of teak, salvaged from RRS Discovery.”

This was part of the original ship and would have been in place during Captain Scott’s voyage to Antarctica.

The highest penguins are perched on top of the Law and it is worth the hike to see them.

Sid the Penguin, designed by Douglas Roulston, is epic. On a sunny day, he blends into the landscape, his feet painted as the Sidlaw Hills, his head and body the clouds and sky.

Nearby is the Voyage of the Discovery penguin by Alice Newman, covered in a Dundee cityscape and charting the progress of the ship’s journey.

Outside Abertay University, the interactive penguin designed by Suzanne Scott and named Maggie and Fleur comes to life when viewed via an app.

The trail runs until September when the penguins will be auctioned, with funds going to Maggie’s Dundee.

Hit the Penguin Parade to spot all 80 of the uniquely decorated birds placed around Dundee that have been designed by artists including Suzanne Scott, top, to help raise money for Maggie’s.