A privilege to work with Harris Academy to create the public art for the front of the school building. Artwork was inspired by the creative consultation during the summer term of 2024 where pupils and staff were invited to help me capture what’s great about Harris and it’s sense of belonging through drop in sessions, focus groups and the art department working with S2 pupils to hear their views. It was great to hear their responses, see their artworks and get their feedback which all helped form how the artwork developed.
Research and Development
Key themes emerged from the consultation that linked to the welcoming pupils and staff, subjects and extracurricular activity, feeling of belonging and the sense of place with the the tiered building with great views over the trees, ripples on the Tay, seeing the rail bridge and big skies and features from the past including the clocktower in the courtyard.
Some of the pics from the research and pupils artwork from the consultation and art department working with S2 classes.
Part of the research and logistics I had site visits and tour of the building, accessed maps and plans and access to old school yearbooks and meetings with senior management.
For this site specific design I wanted to captured a real sense of place and sense of belonging that worked from a distance with flowing movement of various sizes of circles working together and as you get closer you see the illustrated details with meaningful references to the school. Colour of the artwork links into the Harris school blazer colour as a majority plus pops of the brights of the house colours of Birnam (Red), Cawdor (Yellow), Forres (Green), Kinloch (Blue), that would contrast on the surface of the wall.
I developed concepts and created illustrated artwork and worked with fabricators and contractors to have the work fabricated and installed. As this was an outdoor artwork I chose to fabricate in metal and use a cutting technique to apply the decorative illustrative feel. This technique has some design challenges to create imagery without losing the essence of the image.
“ What a privilege to work with Harris Academy to create the public artwork for the front of the building , it was a joy to run the sessions and hear so many positives about the school and bring this together to capture the pupils and staff feeling of the sense of belonging and the feeling of abundance and harmony. Within the circle illustrations I hope that people connect and interpret how it connects to them.” Louise Kirby
Planning and Installing
Thanks for Sam for helping in the studio with the files to meet the timeline for production and to local fabricator AS Fabrication for producing the final pieces and installing and local Powder Coating Services for adding the colours.
Individual Circle Artworks
With my artwork I like to create work that captures a sense of place and is meaningful and unique to space and people who use it. You can find out more about my projects and commissions on my website
