​Matthew took his hat off in the Lake District, on the top of Caudale Moor.  Rob the dog, an unknown border collie who suddenly appeared,  first ate Matthew's lunch, then looked at Matthew's hat, picked up the hat and disappeared into the distance, never to be seen again.  Can you just imagine - a farmhouse kennel full of a selection of cosy tourists' hats? But we also see many hats lying in the street, lost by their unsuspecting owners.



Using this as her inspiration, Chris involved friends and relatives in her work by asking them to knit 158 hats to create a woollen Rob.  Then she began collecting hats that had been lost. The first "found" hat was discovered in Ambleside, Cumbria, a few months after Matthew's loss. The remaining 50+ hats are from in and around the Birmingham area.



The installation will be used as a pop-up-exhibition in Harborne, with the intension of returning the hats to their rightful owners. But it could also be developed for schools or as a basis for community art projects.

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