Excitement over My Dog Sighs £100,000 treasure hunt for city centenary this weekend
Almost 8,000 pieces of art worth over £100,000 will be hidden around Portsea Island for anyone to find this weekend.
Artist My Dog Sighs will release clues across his social media for the location of pieces so people can go hunting!
The artist said: “I get no sleep, but the best part is seeing people out hunting, excited children looking under bushes. Knowing that you had created a buzz around the city I think is the reward I get out of it.”
The hunt was organised by My Dog Sighs, real name Paul Stone, and funded by Portsmouth City Council. It’s all part of Portsmouth’s 100 celebrations; this year Portsmouth is celebrating its 100th anniversary since becoming a city. The artist has been working for six months to create the wide variety of art pieces all with his signature designs, including coins, beer mats, paintings, necklaces and even bronze statues.
The art is then hidden around the city the night before with a team of hiders.
He explained: “It’s really hard to fall in love with something and then to leave it out on the street and walk away from it but there is something cathartic about that as well.”
The artist said he’s “hoping to bring money into the city”, custom beer mats will be placed in local pubs with different designs to encourage people to spend money locally. The last time he organised a treasure hunt, it drew out nearly 35,000 people into the city to look for the art.
Mr Stone said: “What I like about this city is the community and there is a great community feel and I like making things happen. It’s really nice to put something back into the community.”
My Dog Sighs has been colouring in Portsmouth city over 20 years with his iconic designs and he said it follows the ethos of his work to leave art out for anyone to see. At first, he created Free Art Fridays, the artist would find rubbish in the street create a design onto it and then leave it on the street.
“If I shook a spray can people would immediately call the police but now, I go out with my paint supplies, and a little old lady will come up to me and be like thanks for brightening up the city, so I think the perception of street art has changed so much.”
Meanwhile, Portsmouth has placed a bid to become The UK City of Culture 2029 with the winning city delivering a year-long cultural programme that helps to boost the economy, attract tourism, and create an inclusive legacy of pride and investment.
The artist said he would “love to be part of the bid” because of the funding it can bring to the future of art.
He said: “I think we have got a really good scene in the city having to look at the street art festival, we have turned Portsmouth into a massive gallery. Portsmouth isn’t very good at singing about the things it has, there are so many cool artists and musicians if we got the status of the city of culture, we would be able to tell everyone about and show it off.”
The treasure hunt will start on Friday and will last until Sunday, pieces will be hidden all over Portsea Island so keep your eyes peeled.
The project is supported by Portsmouth City Council. For more about Portsmouth 100 and events going on across the year, go to: visitportsmouth.co.uk/portsmouth-100.