This second artwork from the school that Lucy's daughter goes to is another mosaic, some 7.2 metres long and 1.4 metres high. Katharine took photos of the three panels and I've put them in this collage. The information following is abridged from the school website:
East Sheen Primary School has a magnificent piece of artwork that took more than a thousand pupils an amazing seven years to complete. Measuring 7.2m by 1.4m, the mosaic mural of birds decorates the side of the Reception building. When it was unveiled, the whole school excitedly watched artist John O Brien cut the ribbon along with local MP Zac Goldsmith and other invited guests.
“I’m really very proud of what the children have achieved,” says John, who first began the artwork in September 2010. “We originally wanted it to be finished for the school’s centenary in 2013 but so many children wanted to join in it took longer to complete,” he explains.
John took up mosaic art in 2004 after he retired, and has since worked with five other local schools. He became involved with East Sheen Primary after having lunch with Raz Khan, the school’s chairman of governors. “He told me there was a wall crying out for decoration – after the school fire in 1972, new classrooms had been built. The headmaster at the time, David Ford gave me an image of a phoenix bird and we came up with the idea of creating a mural of birds.”
John was keen for the fundamental work to be carried out by pupils and asked all children of Year Four and older to draw a bird. He has carefully kept much of the artwork – scores and scores of pictures from a dodo to a kingfisher, kestrel, partridge, duck, robin and wren. “The criteria we used to choose which drawings would be included was that the images had to be aesthetically pleasing and at the same time, mosaic-able. This form of art means that you can’t achieve a great level of detail. We wanted to depict the birds accurately as well as tell a story.”
Three panels were planned: Birds of the Past featuring a pterodactyl; Birds of the Present such as an owl and a kestrel and Birds in Peril, who may not be here in the future, which focuses on a hen harrier. John visited the school every week and had no shortage of willing helpers.
The final project is a spectacular culmination of everyone’s hard work.
Below the panels in there original linear layout is the following verse:
“A wise old owl lived in an oak,
The more he learned the less he spoke
The less is spoke the more he heard
We all should be like that wise bird.”
This is great and I'm not sure how genuinely hilarious it's meant to be with the cute chick worryingly eyeing the kestrel and the kitty stalking the wood pigeons!
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated. Katharine was thrilled by all your responses.
I do like to see the results of this kind of school project. I'm not sure how it fits with the national curriculum in England, but I do think it has enormous benifits for the children, and teaches them a lot about sharing and working together.
Sadly I haven't seen this artwork yet, but hopefully I will when I visit Lucy and her family next year.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated. Katharine was thrilled by all your responses.
I do like to see the results of this kind of school project. I'm not sure how it fits with the national curriculum in England, but I do think it has enormous benifits for the children, and teaches them a lot about sharing and working together.
Sadly I haven't seen this artwork yet, but hopefully I will when I visit Lucy and her family next year.
Ian
I think fun is an important part of this, both in the work to create it, and in the finished display!
Ian
Thank you both - I'm looking forward to seeing this the next time I take my grandaughter to school.
Ian