Pippa's pet project opens at the Bowes Museum
Squishees and floppies promise fun for all
Ceramic ornaments are fragile, brittle things – best kept on high shelves or safely away from curious young hands.
But there’s a way to make them, or at least the things they represent, very hands-on, as you’ll see from this weekend at the Bowes Museum where Pippa Hale’s Pet Project installation is the new attraction.
Where ceramics meet ‘squishees’, play is not only possible but very much encouraged.
“You’ll have to take your shoes off and have a go,” instructed Pippa when I met her just ahead of Pet Project being let off the leash.
She had her shoes off already, but mainly, I suspect, because she was keen to show off her socks, suitably decorated with cats’ faces.
The Leeds-based artist was commissioned two years ago to come up with something new and exciting for the museum in Barnard Castle.
Bowes executive director Hannah Fox (also in socks) explained the desire to make play a part of the visitor experience.
“That’s either in the surrounding parkland or inside, and family-focused but for everyone and not just children.
“Museums can seem quite serious and austere and play is such an important part of all our lives.
“How do we become more playful beings in a world that’s quite challenging at the moment? How do we find those moments of joy that connect mind and body?
“Testing ideas and working with artists like Pippa, who can help with that playfulness, is what we do.”
Pippa, handed an open brief, alighted on the ceramics collection – but was then faced with around 5,000 objects.
“It was a bit intimidating. I mean, where do you even begin?
“But then I thought pets would be a good starting point because 51% of households in the UK own a pet, or have done in the past, and we form very strong bonds with our pets.
“So then it was a case of looking at the history of pet ownership and the objects in the collection.”
If you’ve visited the Bowes Museum, you’ll know that some of its ceramic animals are cute and some are really not.
“There are some Chinese dogs from the 17th Century which are absolutely hilarious with the most fantastic expressions,” said Pippa.
“Then there’s a little Worcester cat which is tiny and sits on a pink cushion. It’s beautiful and I would have used that, but in terms of a beanbag it wouldn’t have worked.”
Ah yes, the beanbags – or ‘squishees’, as Pippa dubbed them.
These are the giant pliable versions of the two ceramic animals Pippa chose from the mighty Bowes collection, 24 of them and each about 18,000 times bigger than the original ornament.
Drawn to working with all sorts of different materials - whichever suits her latest idea - Pippa said initially she had wanted to make her giant pets out of the stuff they use to make stress balls.
“But it was expensive and not very environmentally friendly so we went with beanbags in the end.”
After failing to find a nearby supplier, she approached GreatBeanBags with her chosen ceramic pets, a little cat dating from 1827 and a slightly bigger and rather grander dog, made in 1760.
Rising to the challenge, the Nottingham-based manufacturer set about making giant squishee versions, a dozen of each.
Proudly, Pippa explained: “They’re made out of Italian faux leather, very high quality, and inside each one are about 45 ‘floppies’, nets full of little balls.
“As the exhibition goes on, they’ll be added to as the balls squish down.”
Completely in tune with Hannah Fox’s way of thinking, she said: “I’ve dragged my kids around museums and galleries all their lives and it can be a very passive experience.
“You look at stuff in cabinets but if there are activities, that’s where you’ll spend your time.
“Making the activity the main focus was built into this from the start - but we wanted to offer different levels of activity. Not everyone wants to play on a beanbag.”
So visitors, if they wish, can paint a little earthenware model of a dog or a cat to take away with them – or try their hand at pet-related origami.
And as the summer progresses, the area of play will become more riotously colourful as the giant beanbag cats and dogs are decorated by various school and community groups.
Currently the pair decorated by Pippa reside amongst ghostly lookalikes of virgin white.
Another aspect of Pet Project resulted from a call out to the public for pet-related creations of personal significance, whether bought or made.
There was a good response and you’ll see some of the sentimental loans displayed with the stories behind them.
Among those first on show are a pair of ceramic King Charles spaniels, treasured heirlooms, and another dog ornament purchased because it resembled one owned by a beloved brother who died.
Another attractive feature of the exhibition is that it brings together into a little ceramic ‘zoo’ creatures previously scattered around the premises.
Collections manager Jane Whittaker said the founders’ collection (all the stuff acquired by John and Josephine Bowes to be housed in their museum) represented their personal taste, and probably Josephine’s taste primarily.
“Josephine wasn’t always interested in acquiring the best or most important. She went with what appealed to her and sometimes would acquire things in job lots.
“It’s part of the unique quality of this collection, and an interesting insight, that we have very ordinary pieces, like the little cat, sitting alongside more valuable pieces.”
That cat, chosen by Pippa to be ‘squishee-fied’, is an appealing but humble piece that would have been produced in this country as a cheap household ornament. It was crudely painted, possibly by a child employee.
But that, ironically, is where its rarity lies. As Jane said, serious collectors didn’t go for this kind of object, meaning most examples would eventually have been discarded or lost.
“To some family that might have been a prized possession – and we’re still drawn to such things today.”
The older and slightly larger (and fussier) dog, on the other hand, was carefully made in Berlin of good quality porcelain – a collector’s item from the day of completion.
Pippa Hale’s Pet Project runs from July 26 until March 1, 2026. Check the Bowes Museum website for related workshops and activities.