Features / Wild Place Project
20 bear sculptures revealed ahead of new trail
Forget the woods – if you go down to the Wild Place Project from April 6 and 7, you’ll sure of a big surprise.
20 six-foot bears have been revealed ahead of the wildlife project’s ‘Big Bear Sculpture Trail’. Launching in time for the Easter holidays, the trail will run until September.
The bears have been designed by artists, from ‘Builder Bear’, complete with hard hat and high-vis jacket to ‘Sunset Bear’, which celebrates summertime in Bristol.
The 20 bears are ready to be hidden at the Wild Place Project
The trail has been organised to celebrate the Wild Place Project’s new exhibit, Bear Wood, which opens this summer. The seven-and-a-half acre exhibit will house European brown bears, wolverines, lynxes and wolves. Jenny Stoves, guest service manager at the project, describes the trail as “a wonderful prelude to the arrival of real bears later this year.”
There are four short trails, each with five bears to find along the way. Donna Newman, an artist who designed some of the bears, says: “Each sculpture is unique and presents a creative challenge. I’m really proud of the designs I’ve created for the ‘Big Bear Sculpture Trail’ and am so excited to see them enjoyed at the Wild Place Project this Easter.”
The first arty bear sculpture will greet visitors at the entrance to the project from April 6 and later this summer when the Bear Wood opens, people will be able to see real-life bears on a trail of a different kind: on a raised walkway that will wind its way through the trees.
The aptly dressed Bristol Bears’ Bear
Find out more at www.wildplace.org.uk/whats-on/bigbearsculpturetrail
Photos taken by Rianna Campbell
Read more: With the kids in Bristol: Wild Place Project
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