A Swindon artist believes the town is ready to welcome The Big Dog Art Trail this summer.

Mike Pringle has been selected to be one of the artists who are designing Swindog sculptures that will feature around the town from July 15.

There will be 30 supersized Swindogs in total, plus around 40 smaller Swinpup sculptures which will be decorated by schools, colleges and community groups. 

Mike helps run the Richard Jefferies Museum on the edge of Coate Water Country Park, and has dedicated his sculpture Gone Wild, which is sponsored by Persimmon, to the writer’s works.

He said: “I was thrilled that my design was selected.

“I’ve been involved in the arts and heritage of Swindon for years, so when The Big Dog Art Trail popped up, it just seemed like the perfect thing for this town.

“I am connected with the Richard Jefferies Museum, which has a real focus on nature and wildlife in this area, and I just thought it would be good to bring that to life on one of these sculptures.”

He has been working on his design with other artists in the shared painting space at the Carriage Works, which has been donated by Swindon Borough Council for the duration of the project.

Mike added: “All of the time I have been in Swindon, there has always been arts going on under the surface.

“Last year, we had this big thing with murals popping up across the town and this year with the art trail, it feels like there is some real momentum with urban art and people from the community really engaging.

“Everywhere you go in Swindon you’ll be able to see the trail and people in Swindon will really rally behind it and everyone will be talking about it.”

The Big Dog Art Trail will be held from July 15 to 3 September 3 and then end with a grand farewell finale where all of the sculptures will be brought together and auctioned off in a fundraiser for Julia's House.

The smaller Swinpups will be returned to the schools and community groups that created them.

Project manager Chris Hyde said: “We are super proud to be giving a platform to Swindon artists to showcase their art in their town. There is a real buzz around the art scene in Swindon.

“We were blown away by the entries. Those that have been selected are creating some fantastic designs which we can’t wait to share with the public.”

Visit www.bigdogarttrail.co.uk