Wickford Art Residency

Paul Clancy was our artist in residence at the Willows Centre in Wickford. Over the two days Paul created this fantastic painting and asked members of the public to sign the finished piece. Pauls inspiration was the mother and child fountain, which can be found in Basildons town centre.

You can follow Paul at http://paulclancyart.blogspot.com/

Art Trail 2011 - Calling All Artists and Venues

Yes you are seeing correctly....applications are now open for the Basildon District Art Trail 2011!!! You can get an application form via...... 


Email: thebdat@hotmail.com 
Phone: 01268 522973
In Person or Writing:  Dean Smith Art, Studio 41, Barleylands Craft Village, Barleylands Road, Billericay, Essex CM11 2UD (sae via post)


** Closing date is January 31st 2011 **


*Applicants must live or work in the Basildon District.


Do you own or work in a venue in the district and would like to take part in next years trail? If so, please contact us via the methods above.

Day FIVE of the Basildon District Art Trail

All good things must come to an end. Thankfully, we can all look forward to a bigger and longer art trail next year. This years trail has been greater than any of our expectations. The feedback from our artists, venues and businesses has been very positive. Businesses who haven't taken part this year are now coming forward asking to be a venue next year...including some very big retail chains. Members of the public are returning to the information points (after completing the trail) and saying how pleased they are that something like this is being done in the district. Other people are saying its great to see the area get away from the negative press thats often associated with the district. All positive stuff!!!


Without sounding too much like an Oscars speech, we would like to thank the following........
Eastgate Management, Essex Council, The Business Association, Essex Summer Of Art, Barleylands, Ambatex, Nandos Chicken, BBC Essex, Leona Murray, Echo, Basildon Council and YA.


The following people/ businesses for taking part in the Basildon Art residency project.....
Ernest Jones, McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, Basildon Police, River Island, Vodaphone, Morellis, Nandos, Kayzar, Build-a-bear, Eastgate Security and Cleaning teams, Republic, the Ice Cream Stand, Hotshots Barbers, Giardino, The 99p Store, Gateway FM,  the British entry to Eurovision 2010, McMillan Cancer Trust assistants and Millhouse Infant School 


A huge thank you to all the artists, committee members, supporters, sponsors, venues and businesses who took part and made this years event as successful as it was.

Day FOUR of the Basildon District Art Trail (pt3)

One of the fringe events being held during the art trail was a childrens art workshop. The event was so popular there were often queues of children wanting to take part. A massive thank you to Eastgate management and Gateway FM who was able to accommodate this event at very short notice.

Day FOUR of the Basildon District Art Trail (pt2)

A massive thank you today to everyone who took part in the artists residencies. Eastgate was a huge success with most of the shops within the centre taking part. Look out for the photos!!!!
Great to see so many people taking part; not just artists but businesses and the public. Hopefully the trail has given the positive image that Basildon and the arts in the district deserve.

Basildons contribution to the Essex Summer Of Arts baton

Each town was asked to produce a 1 meter line drawing, which is being passed around each trail in Essex

(Design by Ben Muroch - Drawn by Dean Smith and Carl Brind)

Natasha Vickers brilliant portraits on display at the Eastgate Centre

Joanna Yates mosaic artwork 

Frederick Noaks (Barleylands artist in residence) watercolour paintings  

Nicola Farnhams spray/graffitti art on display in the Towngate Theatre

(each canvas was a massive 40 x 40)

Simon Coopers display in the foyer of the Towngate Theatre

Day FOUR of the Basildon District Art Trail

Today sees the second day of the artists in residence. If you haven't had chance, go along and see Graham at the Eastgate centre in Basildon, have your photo taken and become a piece of artwork. Once it is finished, it will hopefully be hung within the Eastgate Centre itself.
To see the current project, please visit


In the Willows Wickford we have Paul Clancy. His colourful piece of work depicts the mother and child fountain. As part of the artwork, Paul will be inviting the public to sign his creation.


In Barleylands, Frederick Noakes will be producing a watercolour painting. If you visit the Eastgate hub, you will see examples of Fredericks outstanding work.




Professional caricature artist (and Basildon resident) Steve Hearn came along to celebrate the Art Trail. He also took some photos and wrote about us on his popular blog.  http://drawn4u.com/blog_framed.htm


Another visitor to our trail was BBC Essex presenter Leona Murray-Green. Leona wrote some very nice things on her Twitter page about the event, and enjoyed the trail so much she is coming back for a second day.

Day Three of the Basildon District Art Trail (Pt 2)

Below is another photo of our busy Eastgate information hub in Basildon.

Talented artist Frazer Stuart is exhibiting his work at Mia - 4 The Walk (off the High Street), Billericay