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Kerry Lemon's paper mill sculptures unveiled
On Friday 24 September 2021, our Year 10 scholar students and Miss Collins were honoured to attend the opening of a new public community sculpture.
The sculpture represents the old Paper Mill at Springfield where Redrow are currently constructing 295 homes. This work was designed by Kerry Lemon, who was commissioned by the Francis Knight Art team.
When Kerry was originally commissioned to produce this sculpture, she felt that it was important to speak to students in the local community to gather their ideas and feed these into the design. Kerry was recommended to work with us, due to our specialist teaching of ceramics and 3D work which can be seen around school.
Initially, Kerry visited and worked alongside our art scholars in a 4-hour workshop just over a year ago. During this time Kerry explained her career as an artist, and in particular the process of responding to a commission.
Students learnt about the importance of the site to this artwork and experimented with paper to represent the industrial mill. They also engaged in creative experimentations with different types of paper to gather further ideas, based on the physical possibilities of paper.
Group discussions took place where individual students explained their ideas and inspirations.
In the header image above are examples of the final pieces which Kerry photographed and used later to help her with her final plans. Kerry was overwhelmed with the students ideas and creations.
'It was a real pleasure to work with your bright, engaged and talented scholars today,' Kerry wrote to Miss Collins. 'Their creativity and feedback on my proposals was invaluable and will make a huge difference to the development of this project.'
During the year since, the sculptures have been professionally made using steel, and installed at the new home site ready for the big reveal.
'We were so excited to see the final product unveiled,' said Miss Collins. 'Seeing the project through from the ideas to the final outcome has been an inspiring experience. We're honoured to be involved and be a part of the artwork that will remain on permanent display within our local community. Thank you to everyone involved, particularly Kerry Lemon for your time and enthusiasm sharing this project with us!'