A NEW ARTIST has joined a major sculpture trail that will take over Swindon's streets and parks next summer.

Caroline Parrott is a contemporary aluminium artist who is going to be creating a colourful butterfly-themed Swindog for The Big Dog Art Trail.

The super-sized Swindogs will create the UK’s first-ever balloon dog art trail and raise vital funds for the local children’s hospice charity Julia’s House.

Caroline, from Dorset, said: “Following the pandemic, I felt it was time to set myself a new challenge so I’m excited to be involved with The Big Dog Art Trail project in Swindon, with the added bonus of raising money for Julia’s House.”

Caroline and her family have supported the charity for many years. She first worked with Julia’s House in 2010 for her final project at university.

Caroline approached the charity to install a display of butterflies in the garden of their hospice, which was a very fitting theme as the butterfly is a symbol of hope and change for many children’s hospices.

An experienced art trail designer, Caroline created her Leido the Lion sculpture for the Julia’s House and Wild in Art Pride of Lions art trail in Bournemouth in 2011.

She chose a butterfly-inspired design and the sculpture was named Leido, shortened from kaleidoscope, which is the name for a group of butterflies.

Wild in Art partnered up with Jersey Zoo for the Go Wild Gorillas art trail in Jersey in 2019. Caroline produced another stunning sculpture for this trail, Zeus the Gorilla, which raised around £54,000 for charity

She added: “It was a fantastic experience working on these sculptures and I was delighted when I found out how much money they had raised for the charity when they were auctioned off.

“When deciding on a design for my Swindog for The Big Dog Art Trail it seemed the perfect idea, 10 years on, to return to the butterfly theme.

"The colourful metal I work with is perfect for adding a three dimensional element to the sculptures and I knew I could create something that I felt would have a big visual impact for the trail.”

Several local artists have already submitted a range of Swindog designs, and the team hope to receive many more designs in the coming weeks.

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday November 1 2022.

Visit www.bigdogarttrail.co.uk/artists to find the Artist Pack and information.