Blum, the Hero Bear is the first of 60 bear sculptures that will appear across Dartford next year as part of ellenor\u2019s large-scale public art trail in partnership with Dartford council and Wild in Art<\/p>\n
It\u2019s to celebrate the children\u2019s classic \u2018We\u2019re Going on a Bear Hunt\u2019 by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.<\/p>\n
The eight-week trail, launching in July 2026, will feature 30 large bears and 30 cubs, each uniquely decorated by local artists, schools and community groups in aid of ellenor, a Kent-based hospice charity supporting families facing life-limited illnesses across both Kent and Bexley.<\/p>\n
Now the first of those artists has been revealed as painter and printmaker Ana Zoob, who will create a sculpture of Blum, the Hero Bear for the trail.<\/p>\n
Anna, 30, first discovered her love for painting during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had to pick one moment when I knew I wanted to be an artist, it was during COVID,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Ana\u2019s colourful design is inspired by Dartford\u2019s rivers, wetlands and neighbourhood<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pandemic gave me a massive gift: time. I headed home to Sussex, went into my mum\u2019s studio, and that\u2019s when I properly started painting. That\u2019s when it clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her art is inspired by Dartford\u2019s rivers, wetlands and everyday neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n
Blum himself is a life-sized bear sculpture with a surface covered in sweeping layers of colour with blue, yellow, green and pink.<\/p>\n
Anna added: \u201cThe colours were originally going to be muted, but they ended up vibrant. I love drawing ordinary buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrawing helps me connect with places I might otherwise overlook \u2013 and hopefully people on the trail will do the same\u201d.<\/p>\n
The main aims for the project are to raise awareness of hospice care, build a sense of community pride and generate funds through sponsorship and a closing auction.<\/p>\n
But Blum the Bear also represents a meaningful landmark in Anna\u2019s personal life.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI\u2019d been feeling lost and unsure how to make work that felt accessible and positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bear was a gift \u2013 it brought me back into the studio and opened a new way of painting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Samuel Johnson The first artist behind a new art trail inspired by a beloved children\u2019s story has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,79364,79361,308,93,79362,1901,61,60,79363],"class_list":{"0":"post-137227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-bexley-and-bromley","13":"tag-dartford","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-gravesham","17":"tag-human-interest","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-quirky"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}